How a NZ tramp is planned

Every year, more than one million people go tramping in Aotearoa's great outdoors.

While most people make it home without incident, thousands of them sustain an injury, hundreds require search and rescue help and tragically, some do not make it home at all.  

Many of these incidents can be prevented, or their seriousness reduced, through quality trip planning and preparation.  

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (MSC) uses an evidence-based approach to prevention. In order to develop and deliver effective safety messaging, resources and education MSC wanted to understand more about how trampers plan and prepare for their adventures. 

To achieve this, MSC partnered with Research NZ and the Department of Conservation to conduct an in-depth research project.  The research was conducted online and targeted trampers who had booked/stayed at a DOC tramping facility between 1 November 2019 and 31 January 2020. Among many things the survey covered questions such as: 

• How far in advance did they start planning their trip? 
• What important decisions did they make as they planned? 
• What type of information did they seek and where did they access this information? 
• How did they record and share their plans? 

The survey returned 1707 responses. 

Read on to discover what was learned and how MSC has utilised the results to create a revolutionary trip planning app.

Trampers take inspiration from Google.

Q. Where do you seek inspiration for a tramp?

While Google was used as the main source of trip inspiration, so was asking friends and family for recommendations.  

90% of people already have a list of tracks and huts they would like to go to

Next, we wanted to know how far in advance the decision was made to go on a specific tramp and what factors influenced this decision.

Q. Think back to your last tramp, when was the decision made to go?

The survey revealed that the majority of people tend to decide either just days before, or more than three months before.

Two-thirds (68%) stated that in addition to the trip they went on, they had also considered other tramps. 

Q. Did you go alone or with others?

Nineteen percent of trampers ventured out alone on their most recent trip. But there's a balance between wanting to tramp alone (67%) and not having a friend who can or wants to tramp (41%).

Q. If you went alone, why?

Q. Why did you choose this particular tramp?

When it came to what factors influenced the decision, respondents cited the weather, costs, or level of difficulty all playing a part in deciding on that particular track. Most frequently, the track they chose was one that had been recommended to them.

The survey revealed that there are three main types of planning style:

• ‘Researchers’, use information and suggestions from others alongside their own research.
• ‘Independent planners’ use their own knowledge and experience when planning.
• ‘Off-the-shelf planners’ prefer ready-made plans.

By a considerable margin, 'Researchers' were the predominant planning type.

We wanted to get a basic understanding of the planners involved in this research.

Respondents were asked to rate their tramping experience level. This was evenly split, with 49% identifying as being at beginner/intermediate level and 50% considering themselves to be at the advanced/expert level.

Independent Planners identified as generally being the most experienced with 67% considering themselves an advanced/expert tramper. 45% of Researchers considered themselves to be advanced/expert, and just 26% of Off-the-Shelf Planners gave themselves this ranking.

Respondents were also asked which outdoor activities they had participated in over the past 12 months. While almost all survey respondents had been on an overnight tramp (remember the survey was sent to people who had stayed at a DOC hut or campsite), many had also engaged in day walks and mountain biking.

Against this background, and in comparison to Independent Planners, Researchers have the following characteristics. They are: 

• More likely to describe themselves at a beginner/intermediate level (54%, compared with 33%).

• Less likely to engage in a range of outdoor activities (e.g. 33% had mountain biked in the last 12 months compared to 43% of Independent Planners). 

With these differences in mind, when asked how many times they had been tramping in the past 12 months, Researchers and Independent Planners responded similarly with 28% having been tramping 1-5 times, 30% going 6-15 times, and 41% more than 16 times.

Unsurprisingly, Off-the-Shelf Planners tramped less frequently than the two other planning groups, and were more likely to state they were at the beginner/intermediate level of experience (74%).

43% of 'Independent Planners' also ride mountain bikes

To better understand how trampers plan their tramp, respondents were asked to further describe their planning style and how they physically record their plans.

Most respondents described their approach to planning as a gradual process, letting their thoughts come together over time to form a plan (56%). Others used old plans (21%), while 13% took a more intensive approach. Relatively few respondents said they didn’t plan or planned at the last minute (8%). Researchers were more likely than Independent Planners to describe their approach as a gradual one (60%, compared with 44% respectively). 

While Off-the-Shelf Planners also described their approach to planning as gradual, they were the more likely to say they wait until the last minute to plan their trip (11%, compared with 4% for Independent Planners and 5% of Researchers).

Respondents were then asked how they mainly recorded their plans.

A similar percentage of respondents stated they used a paper notepad (30%), recorded everything on a desktop computer (27%) and added notes to their mobile phone/tablet (25%). In comparison, respondents were less likely to use a special app on their mobile phone/tablet (5%). Researchers were more likely to record everything on their desktop computer compared with Independent Planners (29% and 22% respectively). Aside from this, results by the different groups are similar with no other statistically significant differences.

Whether tramping with a group or on their own, everyone has their own personal check list.

The personal checklists included:

Compared with the Independent Planners, Researchers were significantly more likely to have researched information on the tramp (70%, compared with 58% of Independent Planners). Researchers also were also more likely to have researched places where decisions might need to be made (e.g. hazards) (44%, compared with 35% of Independent Planners and 28% of Off-the-Shelf Planners).

In terms of timeframes, some respondents did these tasks months in advance, while others did so days in advance.

Independent Planners were more likely to start these tasks one to two days before they went on their trip, compared with Researchers (35% and 28% respectively). Off-the-Shelf Planners were less likely to have checked that they had adequate safety gear (57%, compared with 71% of Researchers and Independent Planners). This was also the case for hiring/purchasing and/or registering a personal locator beacon (eight percent of Off-the-Shelf Planners compared with 14% of Researchers and 17% of Independent Planners).

The redevelopment of Plan My Trip into Plan My Walk.

The results of this survey provide an in-depth understanding of how people plan for their upcoming tramping trips.

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (MSC) has already utilised these findings by applying them through its safety messaging, resource creation, and finally, the redevelopment of Plan My Trip into the new Plan My Walk app.

At the time of the survey, Plan My Trip was already available to trampers as an online tool to help plan a safe trip. This new information sparked the redesign in order to ensure it was fit-for-purpose and that it complimented users’ planning and organisation processes.  

"Given the nature of the Plan My Trip tool, we believe the primary audience for the tool is the 'Researchers' group" - Research NZ

The results tell us that our audience is ‘information hungry’ due to their researching behaviour. While only a very small percentage of Researchers used the original Plan My Trip tool, the low uptake could be due to an awareness issue. As a result, MSC have channelled its efforts to promoting the Plan My Walk app and making it easily accessible through the existing sites the Researchers use.

Plan My Walk encompasses many of the elements of the planning phase that the Researchers need. The convenience of the tool takes the guesswork out of the important planning phase by bringing together a key range of information including track information, gear lists, alerts and weather forecasts. 

By selecting a track and entering the trip dates, the user is provided relevant track alerts, weather warnings and watches, a track-specific weather forecast, and an interactive customised gear list. They can easily turn this information into a trip plan by adding contacts who are joining them, designating an emergency contact, and upload trip notes or documents. Once the trip plan is complete, it is automatically shared with those key contacts. Track and hut reviews can also be added which creates a community for trampers to share and learn from.  

The user will receive notifications as the trip approaches, for example if an alert is issued and reminding the user of essential preparation steps.

We look forward to seeing how this application benefits the NZ tramping community

>> V isit NZ Mountain Safety Council Website for more research 

>>  Try out the Plan My Walk app 

>> Learn more about Research  New Zealand 

This research was completed as an online survey between the 6th and the 20th of May 2020:

The questionnaire was developed with the assistance of our client in MSC (and DOC).

After the survey questionnaire was finalised and scripted, a generic link was provided to DOC who then pushed out a survey invitation email to people who hadstayed at a (DOC) bookable facility between 1 November 2019 and 31 January 2020. This included DOC Great Walks, huts, campsites and lodges.

Respondents were asked what outdoor activities they had done in the last 12 months, and if they identified they had undertaken an overnight or multi-day tramp/hike the wording in the survey prioritised this activity (as opposed to day walking). Ninety-seven percent of the total sample said they had done a tramp/hike. Therefore, we can confidently say this report primarily relates to the experiences of trampers/hikers rather than day walkers.

By the survey close off date, a total of n=1,707 respondents had completed the survey.

The survey results have not been weighted because weighting parameters are not available.

Assuming the achieved sample of n=1,707 is representative of the population from which it was drawn, results based on this total sample are subject to a maximum margin of error of +/-2.4% (at the 95% confidence level). Larger margins of error occur in the case of subsamples (e.g. results based on the subsample of trampers that we have called ‘Researchers’ (n=1,148) is +/-2.9%).