'That’s all it took, one wrong step' - avalanche survivor
A snowboarder who was caught in an avalanche in the Remarkables backcountry on Saturday says it happened in an instant.
Queenstowner Joe O'Connor was adventuring with a friend in the east aspect of the Doolans, over the ridge behind the Sugar Bowl chairlift, when the size 3 avalanche hit.
"You know, we were there and then I just heard a boom, like a shotgun had gone off next to me, and then before I knew it, I was sliding, and I couldn’t control where I was going, " he tells the NZ Mountain Safety Council.
O'Connor and his friend had checked the avalanche danger with The Remarkables Ski Patrol that morning and were carrying the right equipment, including a transceiver, shovel and probe.
“We got to the top of where we were going to drop in at about 10am, all our snowpack tests passed, and we thought, 'okay great, it’s a mint day, of course there’s always the danger but we don't expect there to be any super big happenings'.
At about 11am, O'Connor was skinning back up the hill on his splitboard (a snowboard which splits into two halves to become skis for ski touring), with his friend about 20m above.
O'Connor saw a piece of crust break off and start sliding towards him.
"Once that went there was a big wind slab just about 50m above us, and then it all dropped," he says.
His friend managed to stay out of the avalanche, but O'Connor couldn't turn his splitboard skis in time.
"Before I knew it, I was covered in slab and I couldn't move, and I started just sliding down the hill.
"It was a pretty scary experience! There were a lot of thoughts going through my head as I was sliding."
The crown wall, the start point of the avalanche, was about two meters deep and was about 200 meters long, at about 1800m elevation.
O'Connor, fortunately, was off to one side, and slid about 100m.
"By the time I stopped I was buried about waist deep, so I managed to get my pack off and dig myself out."
They'd seen two other parties on the mountain that morning, but knew neither were below them when the avalanche hit.
He describes the day as an "eye opener".
"You’re always aware of the risks of going into the backcountry. But we definitely should've shown a lot more caution.
"We thought we were doing the best we could with gathering info and tests, we just got a bit too comfortable thinking everything was fine, and that’s all it took, one wrong step."
Since the start of the season, MSC and the New Zealand Avalanche Advisory (NZAA) have been reporting on a Persistent Weak Layer (PWL) in the Queenstown region. A month ago, it described the snowpack conditions as "spooky".
"We didn’t see any weak layers in our testing, but obviously it was just lower than the probe of 2m, but at that depth you don’t expect anything to happen. The PWL was there, it was just a bit harder to find," he says.
It was only O'Connor's second time in the backcountry, and he had just completed the Avalanche Skills Course Level 1 last month.
"It’s definitely left me a bit more weary, but hasn’t scared me off from getting back out in the backcountry though," he tells the MSC.
He thanked the rescue teams for their quick response.
Queenstown Alpine Cliff Rescue Team coordinator Russ Tilsley was actually skiing with one of the other groups in the Doolans and saw the avalanche happen.
"We'd seen another couple just come up and ski down [that slope] straightaway," he says. "They'd been in there on Thursday. Then Joe took off, went down and boarded it. "
Tilsley's group was also planning to ski that slope and had dug an avalanche testing pit.
"We weren't really happy with the results we got," he says.
"There's been lots of stuff happening in the snowpack, and it had warmed up quite rapidly from Thursday. When you get that rapid warning, it does change the snowpack conditions, there's a precursor for avalanches happening, so we were very cautious.
"You really should at least do a couple [of pits] to get a representation of the slope. We decided to dig another pit, 50 metres over, and were transferring to there when it happened."
Tilsley says the O'Connor was lucky.
"If he'd have been another 20m over, I don't think the result would have been very good for him.
"It was big, big blocks. It's not all fluffy white snow, it's slabs the size of cars, ugly stuff that went down, and you would have been squashed."
Tilsley says the conditions this season, with the Persistent Weak Layer, means both experience and extra caution are needed for backcountry missions.
On the day, he was able to quickly put out the call for help, despite being "99% sure" know one else was buried under the snow.
Three helicopters flew in Police SAR, Coronet Peak, Remarkables and Cardrona Ski Patrol teams, with three search dogs. They spent about two hours searching the debris field.
