A 22 year old man was killed in an avalanche while back country
skiing. The incident occurred north of The Grey Buttress on the
western side of the Blue Lake cirque when the victim walked onto a
cornice (carrying his skis) and it collapsed beneath him. It was about
12:45 pm, and conditions on the day were sunny, clear skies and a
light breeze.
The accident was observed by the victim’s skiing partner (his brother)
who was standing back from the cornice, and also by another party of
two cross-country skiers who were on the other side of Blue Lake about
500m away. They saw the victim tumble down the steep face with large
amounts of snow debris and then become buried. Once the avalanche had
settled, they saw the victim’s skiing partner ski down the face and
stop on the right hand side (northern side) of the debris where he
began searching.
The two observers skied across immediately to give assistance, with
one of them deciding to climb Little Twynam to call for help via
mobile phone.
The other observer then joined the brother who had already begun
probing the debris for any sign. A little frantic at first, they
worked out a more systematic search pattern, and placed snow cairns to
mark the areas worked. They used a probe, yell and listen system.
After about 45 minutes, another two backcountry skiers arrived at the
scene, carved “HELP” into the snow and joined the search. At about
this time, the Careflight helicopter flew overhead after being
successfully contacted by the other initial observer. The helicopter
winched down a doctor, and over the next half hour, skidoos appeared
with more rescuers from Ski Patrol and National Parks. An expanded
search pattern was set out with the extra people on hand. Hand probing
was unsuccessful in this case, so after using snow ploughs, the man’s
body was recovered at around 5:45 pm buried beneath about 3 metres of
debris.

Some comments from the observers –

Stay well clear of cornices, no matter how stable they look.
When responding to an emergency - take your pack with you. (In the
initial frantic stages of wanting to give aid, the two left their
packs at their vantage point some 500 metres away. They contained
spare clothes, water and first aid.)
Pay close attention to any gear that may be on the avalanche debris
field and concentrate your search in that area.
It is highly recommended that people use ski poles in the backcountry
that can be easily converted into probes.

Other comments –

Although not as common in other alpine area and glaciated mountains,
avalanches do occur in Australia’s high country, including both
windslab and cornice avalanches.
Cornices (overhanging waves of compacted snow) typically occur at the
top of lee (downwind) slopes above the treeline, and can build to
unstable size during heavy snow falls accompanied by strong winds.
This weather pattern occurred a few days before this incident, and the
very exposed western edge of the Blue Lake cirque is an ideal cornice-
forming environment.
Many other locations on the Main Range and other steep parts of
Australia’a high country above the treeline (e.g. Mt Bogong) are also
cornice-prone environments.
In Australia, these zones often extend from flat or almost flat ground
on the upwind side, towards an abrupt change to a steeper slope
downwind. Great caution is required when approaching such zones from
above as the overhang will not be visible until well beyond the break
line. Good navigation (knowing where these breaks in slope are) and
good visibility are critical to avoiding cornice hazards.
In cases of avalanche burial the speed of response is critical. The
chances of survival diminish rapidly with the length of time buried.
Victims may be physically injured by the avalanche and unconscious,
but asphyxiation is often the cause of death.

LEVEL 3 REPORT