Coroner finds Trevor Tolputt did not have adequate clothes or equipment and rejected help that could have ensured his safety

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A bushwalker who died on a popular Tasmanian track in the middle of winter “tragically brought about his own demise by a series of poor decisions”, a coroner has found.

Trevor Tolputt, 55, was just 1.5 kilometres from a hut at the end of the Overland track at Lake St Clair when he succumbed to hypothermia on 14 July 2016. He had been walking alone for six days without a beanie or gloves in freezing, snowy weather.

Tolputt did not have adequate clothes or equipment, failed to plan for delays and rejected help from other walkers that would have likely ensured his safety, coroner Olivia McTaggart determined.

“Whilst his level of fitness was good, he lacked experience of equipping himself for such conditions,” she wrote in findings published on Tuesday.

The inquest examined communication between the Lake St Clair Lodge and the state’s Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS).

A bushwalker crossed paths with Tolputt on the afternoon before his death and offered him chocolate and the chance to walk with his group. Both were refused.

The bushwalker passed on “serious” concerns about Tolputt’s welfare to the lodge via radio from a hut that evening.

The information was not conveyed to PWS, in part because of a “somewhat problematic” relationship between the two parties.

However, it was found by the time the bushwalker had been able to report his concerns it was likely Tolputt was already dead.

Tolputt died before 8.30pm and his body was discovered the next morning.

“The activity itself is one attendant with risks, which are significantly higher in winter,” McTaggart wrote. “The prime principle remains that walkers must be completely self-reliant and responsible for their own safety.”

She noted PWS had taken commendable steps over the past several years to address walker safety but made six recommendations to improve track communications including that visitor centres develop guidelines to ensure staff notify police at an early stage of a report received of an overdue or missing walker.

She also recommended PWS review the walker safety checklist and consider adding waterproof jackets and over-pants as requirements for hikers.