The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council has issued a warning to back-country skiers and snowboarders in the South Islands Otago and Queenstown Lakes district.
Due to a high avalanche danger, skiers and boarders are warned to stick to the main ski areas. Heli-skiing, a popular tourist activity at this time of the year, posses a even greater threat of avalanche due to the present snow conditions.
The major ski fields are carrying out extensive avalanche control but warn people who were accessing the back-country through the ski field chairlifts, of the heighten risks associated with off-piste skiing.An avalanche was triggered in the backcountry near Wanaka’s Treble Cone field yesterday by two skiers who headed into the area despite a high avalanche warning signs.
The Remarkables ski field in Queenstown also have reported a series of small avalanches, one of which finished on the edge of the learners slopes. 2500 skiers were at the Remarkables field at the time the avalanche, which was capable of burying a person, slid 300m down the slopes.
The famous scenic road to Milford Sound has been intermittently closed during the last two weeks due to avalanche dangers and rock slips onto the road. Drivers are warned to obey “no stopping†signs that mark high avalanche risk areas. The area preceding the Hommer tunnel is a known avalanche black spot that has undergone avalanche control.