Missing walker in the snowys.

[Xplora]

Found! Police update to follow shortly.

Amazing work to all involved.

Seems he was not found by the search teams, instead by other walkers. It would be nice to know details of the debrief.

[GregG]

Incredibly good outcome, allegedly he is uninjured and relatively good health, I hope we get to hear his story soon.

[oldpiscator]

Great news but why was he near Blue Lake when the camp was at Geehi?

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Great news but why was he near Blue Lake when the camp was at Geehi?

Quite a journey and obviously not back up the spur and onto the main range track, otherwise he would have been found much earlier??? The presser said he found a couple of muesli bars in a hut and was ultimately found at Carruthers saddle... can't think of any other hut in that locale than the opera house? All of the routes up onto the MR from there are pretty hectic no matter which way you go!

Sent from my SM-S906E using Tapatalk

[johnw]

News footage I just watched looked like he was found just above the ridge out to the Sentinel.

[Avatar]

why was he near Blue Lake when the camp was at Geehi?

Correct.

Opera House hut GPS Location: S36.387854 E 148.276335

https://mountainhuts.net/lm-hut-sites-and-ruins-in-kosciuszko/opera-house
https://khuts.org/index.php/huts/kosciuszko-national-park/opera-house

Last edited by Avatar on Fri 10 Jan, 2025 9:52 am, edited 4 times in total.

[Avatar]

News footage I just watched looked like he was found just above the ridge out to the Sentinel.

I am thinking that bump could be Windover Knoll on the next spur to the south west of the Sentinel spur,
but having said that, Sentinel Spur rises directly from the Opera House hut.

Last edited by Avatar on Fri 10 Jan, 2025 9:53 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Stew63]

Just plug in the coordinates displayed from the hovering helicopters camera screen/display hovering overhead the hikers that found him and plug it into Google Earth.
S36 24.3013 E148 17.7828

[Stew63]

Great news but why was he near Blue Lake when the camp was at Geehi?

From his campsite on the Geehi River where they found his camera/case etc - WHY did he just not hike downstream a couple of kms?
No PLB, he split from the group, no GPS, no map (I assume), he found a hut but decided to leave it and go BACK up through that
thick, diabolical, steep jumble of forest. The media keep portraying the group as 'Experienced Hikers' - pigs ar5e they were.
More questions than answers???

I remember when that Phrab Strawn disappeared out the back of Mt. Townsend 12years ago a specialist group of 8~10 Canadian SAR also flew
over to assist. They were very gungho beforehand and said they WOULD find him - but after their first 2 hours of searching the crazy Aussie
Western Fall Line they were totally already exhausted and overwhelmed by the sheer thickness, depth and visibility - absolutely nothing like Canada!

Total kudos to all the searchers on foot searching throughout this area for Nazari - you guys must be totally knackered!

[Baeng72]

At the risk of seeming a turd, wait, no risk there.
Is it possible that the search team found gear not belonging to the ex-missing hiker?
I guess a debrief could illuminate, but without debrief, I think the take away is have a tracking device or PLB.
Also, well done and thanks to those who went out there and looked. Legends.

[Bill P]

Great outcome for Hadi, whatever happened. Tragedy that Prabhdeep Srawn was not so lucky.

[johnf]

Hannels Spur track was closed from either the 26 or 27th due to fire. There were many waterbombing helicopters, they were still going by the 30th. Well I assumed they were waterbombers https://imgur.com/a/1N7onz4
I thought it very strange the fire in the area was not mentioned in the media. It must have affected rescue.

Huge effort by the searchers in that area. Well done to all.

[puredingo]

With all the “ how’s, what, where and why’s” this has all the makings of that young pommie fella who got lost of the back of the Mt Solitary track a few years back.

I’m not totally familiar with the area or geography this kid traveled so I’m fascinated to get a map out and check the logistics of his journey. Great outcome, the family must be relieved beyond comprehension.

[Xplora]

At the risk of seeming a turd, wait, no risk there.
Is it possible that the search team found gear not belonging to the ex-missing hiker?
I guess a debrief could illuminate, but without debrief, I think the take away is have a tracking device or PLB.
Also, well done and thanks to those who went out there and looked. Legends.

No.

[Xplora]

Great news but why was he near Blue Lake when the camp was at Geehi?

From his campsite on the Geehi River where they found his camera/case etc - WHY did he just not hike downstream a couple of kms?
No PLB, he split from the group, no GPS, no map (I assume), he found a hut but decided to leave it and go BACK up through that
thick, diabolical, steep jumble of forest. The media keep portraying the group as 'Experienced Hikers' - pigs ar5e they were.
More questions than answers???

I remember when that Phrab Strawn disappeared out the back of Mt. Townsend 12years ago a specialist group of 8~10 Canadian SAR also flew
over to assist. They were very gungho beforehand and said they WOULD find him - but after their first 2 hours of searching the crazy Aussie
Western Fall Line they were totally already exhausted and overwhelmed by the sheer thickness, depth and visibility - absolutely nothing like Canada!

Total kudos to all the searchers on foot searching throughout this area for Nazari - you guys must be totally knackered!

Information is the camera was found on Lady Northcote creek. He didn't make it to Geehi River. Found his way to Opera House hut and then up to Main Range.

[marron]

There's a poster on Reddit saying he left 2 muesli bars and a note at Opera House on the 27th.

The camera gear on Lady Northcott as opposed to Kosciuszko Creek starts to make it make a bit more sense (just, i guess).

The reports have said other stuff of his was found at geehi river though?

[Warin]

In this case a hut was found by the lost person...
The huts are, at least in part, supposed to be for emergency situations yet have no means of signalling an emergency. A red flag on a pole could be sighted by a helicopter, a plb bolted to the hut would cost more but works in all weather...

A map on the wall may provide information and entertainment for all!

[sigmacom]

Surely you'd have to assume that in the 2 weeks that he was lost, he never crossed a clear walking track of any kind, or he would have simply followed that and been found. Which means that from Hannels he effectively contoured/descended/ascended the western fall the whole time (inlcuding finding Opera House Hut)! Until finally ascending to near the main range track. It will be interesting to hear his account at some later stage - a great one for Caro's podcast.

[puredingo]

When he gets the bill for 300 people x’s 13 days wages and all the equipment deployed….he’ll probably walk straight back out there.

[johnf]

I suppose the most likely explanation is just spent a lot of time walking in a difficult area. Maybe he did stay put for a while taking up the extra days.

My thought was when I saw his photo was, can you really be walking offtrack in that incredibly scrubby area for 13 days and not be all scratched up? You really need to be pushing hard through that scrub and it is pretty scratchy. Unhelpful I suppose without knowing any facts, but it does seem a bit weird.

Edit: another article with the people that found him said he was scratched up

[rathnew]

Looks like he was found at S036°24.3010 E148°17.7866 or thereabouts - from an image taken from one of the rescue helicopters (https://www.9news.com.au/national/missi ... 52c5d40797)

A little under 1.5k west of Blue Lake, and a few hundred meters north of the intersection of the Main Range Track and the track to Mount Twynam.

Not an obvious place to wind up...

[Avatar]

Could the person be billed for the cost of the search as well?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... racle.html

Last edited by Avatar on Fri 10 Jan, 2025 9:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

The Daily Mail sub headlines Hiker refusing to engage with waiting media and He is looking to sell
his story to pay off his medical degree

The report continues: He was found by fellow hikers after an intense 13 day taxpayer-funded manhunt
involving a search party of more than 400 people, including police, helicopters and SES volunteers.
... Authorities spent an estimated $2million on the search and rescue operation over the two weeks,
despite criticism from his family initially about a lack of resources.

Wondering if he could be billed for the cost of the search as well?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... racle.html

Lol Daily Mail

[scroggin]

Lol Daily Mail

Though 15 years old, it reminded me of this.

[marron]

Interesting tidbit if true (given daily mail), right at the end:

Although he had previously hiked overseas, it was the first time he had visited Kosciuszko National Park.

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

Lol Daily Mail

Though 15 years old, it reminded me of this.

Has aged well

[Hoojar]

It would be really interesting to know what actually happened here. Even in a straight line, Hannels Spur to Opera House Hut is 6km, and that would have to be some of the most challenging scrub in the country. Surely anyone who was lost would just head down. Keep going down and you will eventually reach the road. Even if there was a fire smouldering down there.

Having read what the lost hikerdid, I challenge the description of them being 'experienced.' Some decisions just make no sense.

Siren Song Tunnel must have been closed. I cannot think of any other reason you would leave Opera House Hut and a fire trail and go UP... Especially in that terrain.

There is a little part of me that thinks that maybe the individual went 'missing' to sell their story afterwards.

[jonnosan]

I tried to work out a reasonably charitable scenario based on the police reports etc.
Basically the most plausible route I came up with is this. note I have never done Hannels spur or Lady Northcote, am just going off what I can see on the topo.

1) coming down hannels spur, he misses a turn (somewhere near spot point 970_ where instead of heading west to follow spur down to Dr Forbes Hut, he ends up on one of the spurs further east, he then drops off the east side of that spur and ends up in Koscioscko Creek, which (over a day or two) he follows down to hit the Geehi River. The police eventually find one of his campsites. My assumption is at this point he probably couldnt see any road, F/T, etc. So once he abandons the smartest plan (stay put and wait for rescue!) seems reasonable for him to continue downstream for a while

2) he then follows the Geehi down to the confluence. no idea what kind of pads might be in the area, but I understand there is some remnant road leading from Geehi River to opera house hut. If he after a few days not seeing any tracks he saw that, I can imagine he might follow it in one direction or the other. In my scenario he follows it east, i.e. up Lady Northcote creek to the Opera House Hut.

3) at the hut he finds the muesli bars, I can imagine him being excited and thinking this would be a good spot to wait for rescue but then after a few days he decides no help is coming, and possibly decides to follow a pad uphill. There is some logic to going uphill at this point, he would probably be aware that he would be much more likely to be spotted above the treeline than below.

4) depending which slope he heads up he pops out somewhere near either watsons crag or the sentinal, where he is found by hikers on the main range circuit.

Lots of dumb decisions to be sure, but going down, following the river, then up seems more plausible to me than just contouring straight across - which apart from anything else would have required way more energy (food) than I think he would have had.

[marron]

Losing the track on the wrong spur, i get.
Whatever he did next, charitable version (i.e., genuinely lost and trying to self rescue), nothing makes much sense.. The reports give 4 points from memory adter Hammel, - Kosciuszko Ck, Geehi, Opera House, rescue spot. Thats the order that probably makes the most sense. But to do it it means he has to have been heading east, upstream, along Geehi. Which... where did he think he was? Just keeps comimg back to that for me - he clearly had no idea about where they were going - he just cant have looked at a map at all, in which case, why did his mates let him go off alone? And getting out from Opera House seens to have been very lucky, or, he read notes in the hut, but to a fella who has just accidentally walked a week or more in the exact wrong direction, how helpful could those notes be?

(Also, zero food in his bag? Like not even any snacks? I wonder if he had some and when he ran out thats when he dumped the bag. If not, it's another lesson along with the others of how to prepare for eventualities and stay safe as a group).

[Walk_fat boy_walk]

While anything is possible given the information vacuum, I don't think publicly calling into question the guy's motives, without knowing them for sure, is in any way helpful.