KEY POINTS:
A heli-skiing company has defended its operation after scrambling to rescue a client buried under 2m of snow by an avalanche.
The barrage of falling snow hit a group of five heli-skiers in the Richardson Mountains, 50km northwest of Queenstown, on Sunday afternoon, and guides from Alpine Heli-Ski rushed to get to the trapped skier.
Lead guide Tim O'Leary arrived within seconds after being ferried to the site by helicopter, and used an avalanche locator device to guide him to a beacon attached to the trapped skier.
Using a collapsible probe "like a tent pole", he then dipped into the snow and felt the man lying below.
"Once we had dug down to [his] feet, then we did see some movement," Mr O'Leary told the Herald.
"And by this time we had three guides shovelling, flat out, trying to move up the body to his torso and head, so we could make sure that he could breathe.
"We got to his head and he was breathing. And then, just very slowly, we removed the snow from around him and removed him.
"At this point his level of consciousness improved rapidly to the point where he was talking to us.
"He sort of remembered getting caught up [in the avalanche], but he didn't remember much more."
The rescued man, in his mid-30s, was airlifted to Queenstown's Lakes District Hospital with suspected hypothermia, and remained there yesterday in a stable condition.
The incident came amid warnings about an extreme avalanche risk across the South Island mountain ranges, and police have criticised the decision to go skiing in the area.
"Walking around in avalanche country is dicing with death," said Dunedin search and rescue co-ordinator Senior Constable Rene Aarsen.
But Mr O'Leary said avalanches were a common risk associated with heli-skiing and "clients understand that risk".
"We are in a fairly unstable period just due to the fact we have had tonnes of snow falling.
"Each heli-ski company has been operating the last few days, and each company will continue operating, but obviously there will be a lot of precautions taken in the terrain and angle of slopes selected for skiing."
The North Island is now feeling the effects of the huge snow dump which has created the hazardous conditions in the Southern Alps.
The Department of Conservation has issued avalanche warnings for the Tongariro National Park, including the popular Tongariro Crossing walking track.
While avalanche control work is carried out on ski areas, it is not undertaken elsewhere in the national park. DoC is warning alpine trampers to be particularly cautious.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: NZPA
