Adventure Magazine

SURVIVAL

when

things go

wrong in the

backcountry

Expecting

the -

By Matt Butler

It was a day I will never forget, and one that I look back on with

a degree of trepidation. This is the story of the day when things

could have gone so wrong, but luck meant we made it home

alive. It is a moment that changed my view on rivers and made

me second guess every time I crossed one from that point

onwards.

I had been a fly-fishing guide for a couple of years by the time

of the incident. Almost every day during the summer was spent

exploring valleys and traversing waterways in search of that

elusive trout. Clients paid me good money to get them to places

where they could have the experience of a lifetime, but this time

it was our lives that were on the line.

A friend reached out to me several months before a planned trip

from the USA. He only had one day to spare, which is usually a

tough ask when fishing our waters. But as I knew he was quite

an experienced angler, the possibility of going heli-fishing in the

New Zealand backcountry had him frothing. The key benefit

of using helicopter transport is being able to access remote

sections of a river that would usually take days to walk into. This

usually means less pressure, no people, but also no information

on the river conditions.

As a guide, weather is the highest priority when planning a trip—

not only what it will be like on the day but what it was like several

days prior. The heavens can truly open up in the Southern Alps

and, within hours, turn tranquil flowing rivers into raging torrents.

This was one of those days.

The night prior, there had been a lot of rain, and I mean a lot. I

woke up to check the flow rates on the larger metered rivers to

see that they were very high and still rising. Although the front

had moved on and the rain had stopped, I decided then and

there that it was clearly a no-go for heli-fishing. The only problem

was, my mate was on his way down the west coast, and with

only one day to spare, it was unlikely we could fish further afield

where the rains had less effect.

I rang him to have a frank and honest conversation, but it

was obvious he was still keen to at least try to explore in the

helicopter in case we found fishable water. After spending a few

years exploring the West Coast by both land and air, I knew

there were several "backup" water options, such as the spring

creeks that boil out of the ground and meander their way to feed

the main rivers. These almost never flood in rain and are often

used as a refuge for trout escaping the floodwaters, so I knew

that in the worst-case scenario, we could explore one of these.

As the weather was clearing, I knew flying would be no issue, so

I reluctantly agreed to meet him on the coast and see what we

could find.

unexpected

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