Everyone safe after staff trigger Treble Cone avalanche

4.10pm

Today's avalanche at Treble Cone near Wanaka was triggered by ski staff trying to make the area safe.


Up to 2000 skiers were on the slopes when the avalanche swept across the main ski field late this morning.


Some skiers were buried up to their waists and 150 rescuers spent several hours probing the debris before police finally established everyone was accounted for.

Treble Cone general manager Jackie Van der Voort said staff triggered the avalanche when bombing another area that had been closed while they cleared it of any potential danger.


She said the snow from the avalanche ran from the closed area onto the open ski field.


Ms Van der Voort said Treble Cone was now closed while staff went through a debrief but she expected it to be business as usual tomorrow.

Wanaka police search and rescue adviser Geoff Wyatt said it now appeared everyone was safe.

"Searchers are confident no one is buried. However fresh alpine search dogs from Coronet Peak have been flown to the site to search along with Treble Cone patrollers and search teams," he said in a statement.

"Three people were partially buried and later accounted for by searchers. A witness reported seeing somebody in the avalanche."

Early media reports suggested three other people may be buried but neither police nor Mr Wyatt said that was the case.

Four-time World Cup champion Herman Maier was on the Treble Cone ski field at the time of the avalanche.


The Hermanator was with the Austrian ski team which makes an annual pilgrimage to the South Island to train.


They all escaped today's drama and were now celebrating their good fortune.


An avalanche was not the finale to their ski holiday Australian tourists Tony Maher and Steve Singleton were expecting.


The Brisbane men were caught in this morning's avalanche.


The pair had paused between runs when they heard an explosion, and turned to see a huge wave of snow hurtling towards them.


Tony Maher said they managed to move only five metres when it hit, sweeping them 20 to 30 metres down the slope and burying them to their waists.


He said he lost Mr Singleton, and it was a great relief when his friend answered his screams.


The two men were not injured.

Newstalk ZB reporter Shona Willis at the scene said skiers there reported the avalanche crossing the top of the chair-lift and going across the main slope at the ski-field.

With an avalanche warning already in place, there had been bombing of danger areas during the morning and the T-bar lift was closed, she said. However, conditions were good and many people were skiing today.

The avalanche was moving slowly but getting wider as it crossed the main slope, she said.

Police from nearby Queenstown were sent to Wanaka after being alerted to the avalanche, and rescue helicopters were dispatched from both Queenstown and Dunedin.

Treble Cone is the largest ski area in the South Island and is in the Matukituki Valley, 28km west of Wanaka.

It is used as a training ground by European and United States World Cup National teams.

According to the Treble Cone snow report at 10.30am this morning the main basin had a 127 centimetre snow base and had 20cm of fresh snow fall overnight.

It said the wind was calm and visibility was excellent but the temperature was -1C.

The Saddle Basin had a 124 centimetre snow base and light to moderate westerly winds with a -3C temperature. The report said the opening of the Saddle Basin was delayed this morning "due to control work". It said winds may affect the operation of the Saddle Basin.


- NEWSTALK ZB, HERALD STAFF and NZPA