Huge avalanches in wake of alpine deluge
Charlie Hobbs woke up yesterday in a sunny Aoraki/Mt Cook Village, surrounded no longer by tourists, but by large-scale avalanches.
A mass exodus of visitors from the Aoraki/Mt Cook took place after the highway in reopened on Wednesday afternoon after being blocked by large slips triggered by record-breaking rain.
Hobbs, a local firefighter and owner of Southern Alps Guiding, said the clear weather had cast a new light on the power of the rain dumped on the area.
‘‘We’ve had some pretty impressive avalanches all around us,’’ he said.
‘‘You couldn’t see it during the bad weather, but now that it’s cleared up, the debris around the place is quite something.’’
Tai Naka, a Mountain Safety Council representative, photographed the avalanches. He described them as ‘‘size four’’ avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall earlier in the year mixing with the rain.
Avalanches of that size can bury and destroy trucks and trains, and can destroy large buildings in their path.
Fortunately the paths they had carved ended hundreds of metres away from civilisation, the only victims being trees.
‘‘They’re definitely big enough to destroy buildings and definitely the biggest avalanches I’ve ever seen at Mt Cook, but I’ve only been here six years,’’ Naka said.
‘‘Anyone caught up in an avalanche of those sizes, they would be unlikely to survive it.
‘‘I think it’s a historical weather event, and it shows what we know already, that avalanches can come down well below the snowline.
‘‘A lot of people don’t realise that, and it’s important for them to be aware of it.’’
The New Zealand Avalanche Advisory, run by the Mountain Safety Council, has issued advisories of potentially more avalanches in the area in the coming days.
It’s website notes there is a ‘‘considerable’’ risk for mountaineers and trampers, and says conservative decisionmaking should be used by those looking to go into the mountains.
Other areas with similar advisories include Wanaka, Nelson Lakes, Tongariro and Arthur’s Pass.
Hobbs said the rain in the village had been significant but had been just the right mix of snow and rain – with snow falling above 1800 metres.
If there had been more snow to village level, they would have been snowed in, and if there had been rain on top of the surrounding mountains it could have been a flood in the village to rival 1994, he said.
Naka said the risk of avalanches triggered by rain had passed, but new snowfall up high now presented the most risk. Conditions were gradually improving, he said.
State Highway 80 from Pukaki to the village, closed again as a precaution overnight on Wednesday, reopened yesterday morning to one lane, with stop-go operators in place.
Hobbs said the school holidays had been ended ‘‘abruptly’’ by the storm, and it was likely to be a quiet week or two in the village, though he still had interest from some tourists.
‘‘We’re likely to have some really good skiing conditions up here in the coming days, so I’ve still got people interested in coming.’’
All state highways in South Canterbury are now open with caution urged, but the access road to Lake Ō hau Village remains closed after an approach was washed out on Tuesday. The Waitaki District Council said it hopes to reopen the road today.