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Mt Hutt - Source: ONE News -
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Accident-riddled Mount Hutt skifield has reopened after an avalanche this morning that left some skiers partially buried.
The avalanche occurred on the south face of the Canterbury skifield this morning.
Two skiers were caught up in the avalanche, but uninjured.
Mount Hutt manager Dave Wilson said the alarm was raised by a ski patroller and that the avalanche plan was instigated.
"Patrollers were immediately on the scene and avalanche rescue dogs flown in," he said.
"Eyewitnesses were interviewed and while it appeared everyone was accounted for, we took the precaution of closing the ski area and asking guests to return to their cars for a full and thorough head count. Ski patrollers had skied the face to check it, just prior to the avalanche."
ONE News presenter Rawdon Christie was at the mountain and said conditions were perfect today, with plenty of fresh snow and clear blue skies.
He said several controlled explosions were undertaken on the south face this morning, but despite that, the avalanche hit at around 11am.
"Authorities evacuated the entire mountain as a precaution and sent everyone back to their cars," he said. "That way they could check that everyone was back in their cars and not caught up in the avalanche. After about an hour, they sounded an all clear."
About 2000 skiers were on the mountain.
The Mountain Safety Council said there was considerable avalanche risk in its assessment of the mountain this morning, with isolated snow slabs left after a storm on Sunday.
Mt Hutt yesterday said more than a metre of fresh snow had fallen in 36 hours, with 68cm falling on Sunday.
Difficult season
Three skiers have died on the mountain this season, including a Christchurch snowboarder who fell about 300 metres on Friday.
The snowboarder was with two friends when he slid while traversing back from groomed terrain to the bottom of the triple chairlift. He wasn't wearing a helmet.
His fall took him below the bottom of the chairlift, and outside the ski area boundary over rocky outcrops.
In July, a 54-year-old Christchurch woman died while skiing with her daughter outside the skifield boundary. A month earlier, a 21-year-old American woman died after injuring herself while skiing, also off-trail.
Also in June, a 60 year-old man died after his car veered off the access road as he drove home from a day at the mountain.
Before this year, the last fatality was in 2005.
Were you up the mountain when the avalanche hit? Did you get images
or video? Send them to ONE News at
news@tvnz.co.nz
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