The Blue Mountains is an iconic wilderness area in New South Wales that attracts tourists and adventurers from all over Australia and the world. With such a rugged environment, people often over-estimate their abilities, under-estimate the difficulty of the terrain or come under-prepared for spending time in the Blue Mountains. This can sometimes end in tragedy.
The book, Mountains Mishaps – Death and Misadventure in the Blue Mountains of NSW, is a collection of incidents that have occurred in the Blue Mountains, along with general information about the local area and insights into how to prevent accidents or unanticipated overnight stays in the area.
The book is written by Christopher Webber, who is an author and also a member of the State Emergency Service in the Blue Mountains with over 25 years of experience.
The book is divided into chapters covering different incidents that may befall visitors and adventurers within the Blue Mountains. These include slips and falls, missing and lost people, injuries and illness, severe weather events, canyoning, crimes, as well as road, rail and aircraft incidents. The book also provides a great history of emergency services within the Blue Mountains and includes appendices on the use of emergency beacons and search and rescue tactics.
The book is not a comprehensive list of all the events that have occurred in the Blue Mountains; it only includes incidents that had media coverage or that the author could obtain information about through inquiry documents. However, it provides a range of information on each category, with some overviews of incidents and some longer stories that detail the event and the thoughts and actions of the rescuees and rescuers. The events are listed chronologically within their categories and each event is notated as to whether a death occurred to provide a trigger warning.
The book includes some incredible stories of survival and resilience, as well as the amazing tenacity and vigilance of emergency services personnel. This book is a useful guide for what can go wrong, particularly when someone is under-prepared or takes unnecessary risks in an environment as wild and untamed as the Blue Mountains.
The information is provided to assist people recreating in wilderness areas to consider their own safety through knowledge of past events. This book serves as a guide to encourage caution among people visiting the Blue Mountains and is also a true testament to the police, emergency personnel and volunteers who risk their lives to help people who find themselves lost or injured in the Blue Mountains.
The second edition of the book is available from www.mountainsmishaps.com.au and includes 650 incidents representative of the hundreds of incidents that occur each year.