I’m still not entirely clear whether the three climbers were us! We registered the car with CALM, told them we were camping for a night, (they appeared relaxed about the whole deal) and found a great spot near Nature’s Window – really protected and soft sand. I was having a wonderful deep sleep – didn’t sleep well the night before having been awakened at about 2am by revellers back in Tudor caravan park. Then I was again awakened about 2am by the sound of my name ricocheting around the gorge. By the time we had got dressed to find out what was going on, whoever was yelling had disappeared. A surreal experience. And an interesting coincidence that one of the lost climbers would share my name! We stopped to check in on the way out, and the guy said someone had been lost, but didn’t clarify..

ps watching the sunrise from Nature’s Window is very very beautiful

This is just general advice, and should not be forwarded or referred to in correspondence with others. This is just to allay any concerns that people may have. A more detailed report will be given to the CAWA committee for record purposes.

I was in the party of three, that without incident, returned from the gorge at Kalbarri.

We had made particular plans and times to leave the gorge via Four-ways on Sunday afternoon. We had given notice of our plans for leaving the Z-bend gorge to others.

Our plans were required to be revised, but no radio or mobile phone signal could be used, despite an elevated position.

During our return the night had set in, which was no serious problem, as we had maps, a compass, headlamps, plenty of food, water, firt aid kits, warm clothes and capacity to make a fire if necessary. We ended up choosing to bivvy in the gorge, and return to the Z-bend carpark when light (as this was our safest option to avoid a real incident occuring due to fatigue or some other factor – e.g. poor light).

We followed through with this plan and returned without any problems. We met and spoke with DEC, SES and Police at the Z-Bend lookout at which point everything was quickly explained, and everyone more or less returned to making the most of a public holiday Monday.

Ultimately the initial concern is understood, but it is clear that climbers are generally self sufficient and that emergency services should only be contacted if a known incident requiring their assistance is required (something that was advised to the people who made the initial contact to emergency services).

A known incident may include such things as a known injury, or climbers not returning the following day (if having an epic or being ‘be-nighted’ as some call it). Although it was ackowledged (by those who called the services) that ultimately there was more than adequate experience in the group of climbers, a call was made that ‘a group was missing’, and therefore the police are required to follow their formal procedure for such things.

Generally it is understood that epics and be-nightings happen, and recommended that other climbers should allow enough time (as much as 24 hours?) for people to return. There is also potential for climbers to undertake some initial investigation if really warranted. Ultimately no-one wants to waste the valuable time of emergency services.

Hopefully there are some lessons out there.

I would say that for experienced climbers with gear then 48 hours is about the amount of time to wait if they had originally given a definite time of return. I have been 24 hours late from hikes before and in the bugaboos was 48 hours late back from a climb with lawrance. I would have been bummed if i had have had rescue people turning up ruining an epic that all climbers deep down love in a wierd kind of way.

In Kalbarri they obviously have a good system in place to operate quickly but that system should not go into effect for an amount of time depending on the peoples experience who have gone missing.

Anyway, better safe than sorry!

If I can not comment on the exactitudes of Conrad’s relation of events. I suppose I could note the tone in which they are expressed- with little or no real appreciation for the effort expended upon thier epic.

Upon arriving at the car park (early to maximise our morning out) we spoke with the Ranger at around 8am (1.15hrs after sunrise) and upon the relation of what he understood the situation to be, he asked our party of 3 to please assist the search party.

Considering the ‘lost’ (lost-according to what information was presented at the time) party had not return to their car, and considering the experience of the group this suggested a serious element might be in existance.

I have been assisted twice now and have greatly appreciated this as it helped me out of consequences to which end I do not know what could have transpired had I not recieved help. We had no hesitation in assisting where we could, on what information we had.

Ahh, the mystery is solved…glad everything worked out in the end. Looks like everyone tried to sort the situation out as best they could under the circumstances… Though the fact that it was my name people were yelling at Nature´s Window was an interesting twist 🙂