Avalanche warning for Mt Ruapehu

An extreme avalanche warning - the first for two years - was issued yesterday for Mt Ruapehu after a fresh snow dump created dangerous conditions.

Mountain Safety Council avalanche programme manager Steve Schreiber, who issued the warning, said: "Our concern is that if people went up there this weekend intending to be quite aggressive, we'd be pulling bodies out of the snow pack."

He said the warning had no connection with Wednesday's incident, when Turoa Skifield staff inadvertently set off an avalanche that travelled through the skifield.