Angelus Hut in the Nelson Lakes National Park. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
A remote camera has been installed near one of the most popular huts in the Nelson Lakes National Park in a bid to improve visitor safety.
The mountain camera is in place above Angelus Hut and Rotomaninitua/Lake Angelus, as part of a NZ Mountain Safety Council (MSC) one-year trial.
MSC chief executive Mike Daisley said it would allow avalanche forecasters to assess snow coverage across a range of terrain and it would benefit a range of backcountry enthusiasts.
It will also provide insights into current weather and conditions for trampers.
The routes and tracks leading to Angelus Hut have been identified as a hotspot for tramping incidents in Aotearoa.
Between 2010 and 2019, there were two fatalities and 51 people involved in search and rescue callouts.
Nelson Lakes was a challenging area for avalanche forecasting due to the lack of snowpack data and limited ability for field observations.
The images would improve the data available for the Nelson Lakes regional New Zealand Avalanche Advisory run by MSC, as well as provide beneficial insight into current weather and conditions for trampers.
Nelson Lakes National Park DOC operations manager John Wotherspoon said the camera images would be used as a tool for visitor centre staff to showcase the weather conditions to visitors.
"It's easy to underestimate the conditions deeper in the park, many people look up at the north facing slope of Pourangahau/Mt Robert which can be seen from the village and think those are the same conditions they'll experience further along the ridge, but that is not the case."
MSC and DOC would like to thank Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō for their support of this one-year trial.