Award-winning tramping safety videos return in time for busy summer
This summer, walkers and trampers across Aotearoa will be inspired to get out and explore with the release of seven new walk-through style videos covering some of Aotearoa’s most spectacular tracks.
MEDIA RELEASE: Friday 26 November 2021
These seven videos released today, produced by the NZ Mountain Safety Council (MSC), have been shot in incredible backcountry locations across Aotearoa using innovative cinematography in order to create a world-class production, primarily safety-focused by preparing participants for these popular tracks.
Each video highlights the track’s common risks and hazards, outlines key decision-making points, and offers guidance on walking times, essential clothing and gear items, important weather factors and other track-specific advice.
MSC spent a total of 22 days of on-location filming, walking over 250km, passing by 18 amazing backcountry huts all whilst carrying tens of kilograms of filming equipment including drones, video cameras, batteries and memory cards.
The videos are the Kauaeranga Kauri Trail Pinnacles Walk (Coromandel), Tararua Southern Crossing (Wellington/Wairarapa), Alpine Route and Red Hills (Tasman/Marlborough), Mt Somers Tracks (Canterbury), Copland Valley (Westland), Gillespie Pass and the Rees-Dart Circuit (Otago).
The seven tracks were selected after careful MSC analysis of safety data, revealing that each track had preventable safety incidents which could be reduced by targeted safety videos.
The new videos add to an already established collection of 12 videos that MSC released in 2018. Those videos and the associated impact research won the ‘Insights Communication’ award at the 2021 Research Associations Effectiveness Awards.
MSC Chief Executive Mike Daisley said the huge success of the first 12 videos meant the decision to develop seven new ones was straightforward, with the challenging part taking place out on each track as the film teams worked tireless to capture the right content.
“The independent research undertaken to assess the impact of the first 12 videos very clearly showed that walkers and trampers who watch the videos before they set off are safer.
“They have better awareness of the hazards, key decisions they will need to make, and we could see a profound improvement in their safety-related behaviour changes,” he said.
According to the research findings, 76% of people who watched the video said they would make changes to their plans because of it, and 90% of those people did. Furthermore, 95% said they learned something new, with 82% saying their knowledge of hazards along the track had improved, and 85% said their overall understanding of the track had increased.
In developing the seven new videos MSC worked closely alongside partners including the Department of Conservation (DOC), NZ Police, local LandSAR Search and Rescue volunteers, MetService, NZ Outdoor Instructors Association and other local track groups and organisations.
Each video is available in the new Plan My Walk app, on MSC’s YouTube Channel, and coming soon to the DOC and MetService websites, among others.
ENDS