Mt Ruapehu Lahar- Avalanche of Mud Cineflex Aerial Footage

March 18, 2007. The long anticipated lahar finally happened! Steve and I were hired by TV3 News to get the first stabilised aerial shots of the lahar, as well as the aftermath. Features comments by local resident John Archer, who was present in 1953 when a similar lahar caused huge loss of life. Last time, the lahar destroyed a rail bridge, and in the dead of the night with no warning systems in place...a train drove straight off the edge and into the mudslide, most passengers perished. The 1953 incident is New Zealand's worst train disaster. Thankfully this time round nobody was hurt, people were prepared and the whole thing ran like clockwork. They have been waiting for this to happen for years, there were a whole bunch of seismic gadgets at the top of the mountain, as soon as the tremors were detected they sent their signals triggering road and rail closures for miles around...and everyone got out of the way!
Was absolutely mind boggling to see and something I'll never forget. Most of the mountain shots were taken on sunrise the following morning, we had to get up the mountain early because of the weather closing in. The crater was covered in cloud and revealed itself for only a couple of minutes, just long enough to get the shots you see here. The views were just epic!
The music is written and performed by a great friend, dylan lee.

If you would like to see some awesome stills from the event, go to this page: http://www.geoffmackley.com/archive/ruapehulahar.html
Geoff is a TV3 cameraman, he was first on the scene and got some great stills and video which I'm sure will be on his site soon.

More gyro filming and info at www.relapse.co.nz

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[gallwapa]

Thanks for this video. Bobby Jindal scoffed at seismic monitors for volcanoes in the stimulus package saying they were unnecessary! Living near Puyallup in the shadow of Mt. Rainier, I say that man is full of it. Jon Stewart had a wonderful quote something to the effect of "Gee, devices that could help monitor and predict a natural disaster and prevent unnecessary losses? Outlandish idea."

[relapsemedia]

Jon Stewart is always on the ball =) Thanks

[wallpaperkilla]

thats in new zealand yea?

[relapsemedia]

yeah, central north island. this is 'mount doom' from lord of the rings

[relapsemedia]

yeah i know what you mean...but they offer HD models now that look so good it's unbelievable =) a lot of feature film stuff is actually HD video graded to match film as close as possible. shooting film from a chopper is mega expensive, as you need to land to reload film etc. shooting video means that the only limit is fuel capacity =)

[saintbeast24]

what's the name of the song?

[watertakken]

The volcano in New Zealand.

[blunklaura]

This is a gorgeous video,stunning shots !

[Brigitte727]

It's a wonderful video of the lahar... excellent contribution!

Beautiful job... Congratulations! I'll add to my favourites.

[Brigitte727]

True. There are several possible causes of lahars, none of which is deforestation. I think our friend here is mistaking lahars for landslides, a completely different phenomena.

[Playboysmurf1]

Its a lahar caused by overflowing Crater Lake and volcanic activity, NOT deforestation. Trees dont grow on Mt Ruapehu.

[sammy13576]

Mt Ruapehu volcanic lahar

this is the video you want to watch folks

[sammy13576]

why wasnt there any ground shots

[444Scotty]

My Father was supposed to have been on the '53 train but a seat mix up meant that he and his father caught the next train that left a few hours later instead. He remembers very vividly seeing the dead bodies and lugage in the water (he was 10 at the time). My Maternal Great Grandfather was one of the people involved in recovering the bodies. My sister was 15 minutes away (due to finishing work 15 minutes early) from being caught by the '95 lahar when she was working on Whakapapa skifield.