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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