Avalanche traps skiers

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 449, 18 August 1992, Page 2

Avalanche traps skiers

Whakapapa Ski Patrol are hoping a recent avalanche which threatened the lives of three skiers will be a warning to others to take care. At 11.30 yesterday (Monday 17 August) three people skied on to a run closed due to the avalanche hazard. The slope avalanched and the skiers were fully buried. The remainder of the party alerted Ski Patrol who had the skiers rescued in five minutes. All

three skied away from the incident uninjured. "I hope this will be a warning to people to take note and obey all skifield signs, especially those advising skiers of closed runs," said Ski Patrol manager Mark Woods. "All runs closed due to avalanche danger are fully signposted at the top and bottom of each run." Whakapapa has had large amounts of snow falling over the last week associated with strong

winds, combining to produce a high avalanche hazard. The field has a 305 cm snow base at present. Avalanche control work had been done continuously on Sunday and as a result the field was closed at 3pm due to

avalanche hazard. Ski clubs on the mountain were warned of the danger by telephone on Sunday. Full avalanche control work started at 6am Monday and resulted in a number of runs being closed.