Trapped group breaks into hut

Children trapped by heavy snow spent last night eating marshmallows by the fire after their group broke into a hut in a remote national park near Nelson.

Two adults and four children forced entry into the hut to take shelter for the night in Kahurangi National Park after their cars became stuck in snow near Cobb Valley Rd yesterday.

The group called police shortly after 10am to say one of their vehicles was stuck in a ditch and the other could not continue because of heavy snow.

They said they had food, including marshmallows, phone coverage and plenty of firewood.

They were keeping in touch with Search and Rescue staff who would make a call on how best to proceed with road conditions at 8am today.

A MetService spokesman said snow showers in the area were expected to ease this evening, and heavy rain would develop from this morning.

At about 12.30pm yesterday, a group of skiers in an ‘out of bounds’ area near Treble Cone triggered an avalanche in the Hidden Valley area.

The ‘size 2’ avalanche was up to half a metre deep in open terrain, and the four people in the group skied out safely.

Before doing so they checked the debris and carried out a transceiver sweep of the site which did not reveal any signals.

A media statement from Treble Cone said the group also searched for visual tracks and other clues in the area and the full length of the debris, but did not find evidence of other individuals or groups in the area at the time.

Treble Cone was alerted by a member of the public who saw the party searching the debris.

The area was declared ‘clear’ after a search by helicopter and patrollers with dogs.

Meanwhile, a blizzard forced the evacuation of about 30 people from accommodation at Mt Ruapehu yesterday, which also closed the mountain for skiing.