I just tried to stay on top, says avalanche survivor

Ashley Light says he got lucky. Photo / Simon Baker

A skier caught in an avalanche on a South Island skifield has described how he fought to stay on top of the snow, for fear he would never emerge again if he went under.

Christchurch man Ashley Light was one of two people partially buried in the shallow avalanche on the South Face at Canterbury's Mt Hutt yesterday, and feels fortunate to be able to tell the tale.

Neither he nor the other skier were seriously hurt in the latest in a string of disturbing events for Mt Hutt. Three skiers have died on the mountain this season, including a Christchurch snowboarder who fell about 300 metres on Friday.

Mr Light, 38, had gone to the mountain for a day's skiing and had waited for safety testing to be done before taking his turn to ride down the face.

"I just heard a big boom, which is the sound of the air coming out. And then the whole face just moved and I was in the middle of it," he told the Herald.

"Fortunately there was only two of us caught in the moving parts - everyone else had managed to ski off to the side," he said.

"When it started moving, I was standing in it, so I was like surfing it down. 'How do I stay on top of the snow?' - that's what you are thinking. If you go underneath ... you don't come out generally because [the snow] solidifies pretty quickly."

The feeling of being out of control, and carried by the snow was "quite surreal really".

"It's quite a calm sort of feeling. My thoughts were 'how do I make sure I'm seen?'. So I was holding my poles above my head ... and just followed it down until I came to stop, and luckily I was just buried up to my hips."

Skifield rescuers got to him within minutes to dig him out.

"It's just a risk you take in the mountains. I feel lucky, but it's also good to know that the guys up there know what they are doing."

After the avalanche the skifield was temporarily closed and skiers assembled at the carpark for a head count to ensure no one was missing.

The Mountain Safety Council said there was considerable avalanche risk in its assessment of the mountain yesterday morning, with isolated snow slabs left after a storm on Sunday. More than a metre of fresh snow had fallen in 36 hours, with 68cm falling on Sunday.

Ski area manager Dave Wilson said avalanche control work prior to the avalanche included "heli-bombing" on Monday and the use of hand charge bombing yesterday.

"Nothing appeared to be releasing, or causing any issues."

Mr Light said he would probably think twice about returning to the face - "at least for a couple of days".