Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

[Overlandman]

Updates coming in

Thoughts are with the rescue team, family and friends

Sadly
From the Advocate

A body believed to be that of a missing walker has been discovered at Frenchmans Cap in the state's West.
Searchers from Ambulance Tasmania and the State Emergency Service Search and Rescue Team located the body of a deceased man off the summit track this afternoon.
It appears the 28-year-old from Hobart had fallen and died as a result of his injuries.

[Lostsoul]

From Tas Police Facebook page

Police, with the assistance of Ambulance Tasmania and the State Emergency Service Search and Rescue Team (Northwest) are searching for a missing walker at Frenchmans Cap.

The 28 year old man from Hobart was last seen at 07:30am on Wednesday 28 May starting the final mountain ascent.

He told other walkers that he intended to walk to the summit and return to Lake Vera that day.

He did not return to his camping site, and the walkers reported their concerns to police on 31 May.

Last night a search and rescue team walked into the area, and is this morning walking up the mountain. The Westpac Rescue Helicopter will assist in the search.

Acting Sergeant Stephen Barrow said “We are very concerned for the safety of the missing walker, and are hoping that he is quickly found. I pass on my thanks to the walkers who reported this to Police and assisted with valuable information.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 131 444.

I find it mind boggling that the walkers waited 2 days to report the guy missing,knowing he hadn’t returned to his camp that night.Would have thought a plb should have been used to raise the alarm earlier.In this case it probably wouldn’t have helped the poor guy but still,geez!

[creeping_moses]

I find it mind boggling that the walkers waited 2 days to report the guy missing, knowing he hadn’t returned to his camp that night.

Agree
Albeit I can conceive situations where one would not know what was happening to others out there. It sounds like this fellow was walking from Lake Vera hut to the FC summit return in a long day on the 28th.
Any other people at Vera that morning/night prior who he informed of his intentions may have been walking out on the 28th. The alarm may be delayed due to people not realising he was due back to his tent at an otherwise empty - winter and mid-week - Vera hut or a Vera hut occupied only by incoming walkers who he hadn't met and who didn't realise his tent was there and empty. People he may have passed between Vera and Tahune, or even Tahune and the summit, if any, also may not have had the required second piece of data (i.e. not seeing him pass back through Tahune Hut later in the day) to have concerns. The alarm may have only been raised on review of the trail head log book by a walker who saw the empty tent and/or had heard chat from other parties.

[Tazz81]

Don’t blame the walkers who set off the alarm after 2 days. He took the risk of climbing Frenchmans solo in winter - that quartz is lethal with a bit of ice. The new iPhones have a man down function connected to satellite so maybe that would of helped.

[north-north-west]

Frenchmans solo in winter is fine if you know what you're doing. It's a big ask to do it at that time as a daywalk from Vera, however.
There aren't that many places you can fall from on the summit track, and anyone going in after him would have seen the body if he'd been near it, so I'm guessing he was offline when he fell. May not have mattered when the alarm was raised.

[stu]

I read it as he was going to summit & 'return' to Vera, ie. he was camped at Tahune, summit, pack up & back to Vera that night. I wonder where he fell, & if any other walkers in the area summited in the intervening days...there's not many places to fall & be obscured

[north-north-west]

...there's not many places to fall & be obscured

That's the thing. There's only one bit of the summit track that poses a problem, even in winter, and if you slip there you're going to be seen by the next person through. If he fell on the Wednesday or Thursday, weather would not have been an issue - I could see it from where I was walking and the thing was brightly sunlit.

[phATty]

Where abouts can you fall? I don't recall any places on Frenchmans where you could but it has been awhile...
Is it possible they were going the wrong way?

[north-north-west]

Where abouts can you fall? I don't recall any places on Frenchmans where you could but it has been awhile...
Is it possible they were going the wrong way?

There's one minor scramble up a steep bit of rock. Some people have trouble with it and it can be particularly awkward with ice or in the wet. But it's short and you'd have to be unlucky to cop a major injury even if you slipped at the top.
Pretty sure someone's posted an image of it here (maybe Tortoise?) but it would take some diggiing to find.

[Son of a Beach]

There’s a sign pointing left to Tahune, right to Irenabyss and UP to summit.

PS. Found it: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12414&p=164368&hilit=Frenchmans+cap#p164368

[eggs]

There are a couple other places possible.
The sloping rock slab under an overhang can be tricky - I thought worse than the rock face.
You don't have to fall far some times.
But he may have gone slightly off track to the huge crevice on the eastern edge - near where people have gone base jumping.
Would be interesting to find out where.

[north-north-west]

There’s a sign pointing left to Tahune, right to Irenabyss and UP to summit.

PS. Found it: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12414&p=164368&hilit=Frenchmans+cap#p164368

That's it. A Few shots of the section in question on that thread. Well done.

[tastrax]

Sky news are as accurate as ever!

[headwerkn]

Sky news are as accurate as ever!

Murdoch press... facts and reality... yeah.... :-/

On the plus side, some conservative boomers in Zeehan are probably feeling very "seen" right now