Guide dug furiously but skier suffocated

The Ragged Range. Photo / Westpac Helicopters

A heli-skiing guide struggled in vain to save the life of an Australian tourist caught in an avalanche, only to die later in a separate avalanche himself.

An inquest yesterday heard how Jonathan Morgan dug out and tried to resuscitate Sydney man Llynden Riethmuller, 61, when the avalanche struck during the heli-skiing trip in Canterbury's Ragged Ranges in July last year.

Mr Morgan, 38, who was acting as a skiing guide for Mr Riethmuller and two other Australian visitors, lost his own life in an avalanche on a venture in the same region three weeks later.

Relatives of both men were at the inquest yesterday as the death of Mr Riethmuller was examined by coroner Richard McElrea. Mr Morgan's death will be examined in an inquest today.

Yesterday's inquest heard that Mr Riethmuller was buried in a hole 1.4m deep, with no air pockets or space to breathe.

Avalanche expert Don Bogie said he may have survived if dug out within two or three minutes, but it took about seven minutes for the guides to find him.

One of the skiing clients may have triggered the avalanche by skiing outside the recommended area, Mr Bogie said.

Mr Morgan told police the first he knew of the avalanche was when he heard the word yelled over the radio by his fellow guide, Kevin Boekholt.

He then saw an area of snow moving 200 to 300 metres above the skiers, and watched as Mr Riethmuller was caught in the path of the largest of two avalanches and disappeared.

Mr Morgan called over the radio for help, and then rushed to where he last saw Mr Riethmuller and used his locator beacon transceiver to try to find him.

Mr Boekholt probed into the snow and struck Mr Riethmuller.

"I immediately got out my shovel and started digging," Mr Morgan said.

"About a metre down I came across Llynden's hand and I followed this to his shoulder and his face area and cleared the snow away from his face.

"There was no sign of breathing and I also noted that dry snow located around Llynden's mouth had not shown any sign of melting, for example that Llynden had been breathing."

Melbourne man John Castran was also caught in the avalanche but was dug out in time and revived.

He said the force of the moving snow "spreadeagled" him, and he was pinned down and unable to move or breathe.

Mr Bogie considered the rescue efforts by Mr Morgan and his colleagues were "as good as you can get" in the circumstances.

Pathologist Martin Sage said Mr Riethmuller was presumed to have suffocated under the snow.