Avalanches are serious business. Every winter skiers, snowboarders and climbers are caught in slides that for the most part end in tragedy. I’ve lost friends in avalanches, colleagues and people that I will always hold in esteem – snow doesn’t care who you are, how good a skier you are or what sort of training you have. If you are in the wrong place at the wrong time – you’re in trouble.
On August 3rd Sophie (my wife) along with friends Adrian and Debbie headed out for a ski at Coronet Peak, near Queenstown. I’ll let Sophie take over from here:
We were skinning up the main run at Coronet Peak At about 4.30pm. At about 3/4 of the way up - I heard a cry for help coming from way out of bounds. We stopped and listened and the calling, desperate calling, continued but we couldn't yet see anyone. Eventually we spotted a person on a ridge 300-500+ metres away. Adrian and I skiied over to see what was up at about 4.50pm - I was expecting a broken leg, at most.
Adrian got to the snowboarder, Fraser, first and confirmed that there had been an avalanche (later classed as 2.5-3) in the valley just behind the ridge and that his snowboarder brother Ryan was buried, hadn't been seen for 10-15 mins, that neither of them had any avo gear and that the last seen point was unknown as Ryan had been swept around a corner of the valley during the slide. We were looking down the kinked valley at the debris - there were two upper release points on a very steep section which had then released one entire face of the kinked valley with numerous terrain traps below. The debris was probably 20 metres wide and 600-800 metres long and would later prove to be many metres thick - we needed help and fast.
I called 111 to get help on the way while Adrian questioned the brother further but he was already in shock and was having trouble making sense, but we got as much info as we could from him. Adrian did a quick sweep of the whole area to see if he could spot anything, but it was unlikely as the brother had already done the same straight after the slide. I tried to help sweep the upper area (we traversed into it about 1/4 of the way down) but when 111 tried to call me back I realised I was in a dead cell zone, so I had to climb back up to the ridge where we spotted the boarder to make another call. At around the same time I saw three patrollers at the top of the valley, trying to figure out where to go so I pointed to the slide area with my ski.
With their help we got a 6-man probe line going with the probes and poles that we had, but it was a little futile as the debris was deeper than our probes. More patrollers joined us and we were able to give the brother a break and make the line even longer and tighter. A second probe line started sweeping behind us but it was all just something to do until the avalanche dog arrived. We probed about 3/4 of the way down the debris when we were told to clear off the debris area and let the dog do it's thing and give us a much needed break - I forget the time but it was probably 6.30pm by this stage and I was exhausted. I was always looking at my watch not for the time itself, but to work out how long he'd been buried for...
The dog found two possible points one of which was stronger and right where we had last been probing so the patrollers dived in to probe the area some more. They did so at length without any real luck - more evidence was needed. So everyone was called off the debris and a guy with a recco machine swept the area and got a weak signal in the same spot as the dog had suggested - so then they started digging. They had two dig crews of 4-5 people and they dug deep for a long time.
After maybe 20mins of digging Adrian and I were told that we should go back to base, so we started climbing up. At some point during our climb there was lots of yelling but we were too far away to know exactly what had happened. I later learned that they'd got to Ryan's snowboard but that he was still buried beneath it - he must have been about 2.5-3m deep we reckon. This was at about 7-7.15pm. We continued our journey back to base - a 30 minute climb up the ridge, a skidoo ride to Greengates and a bus from GG to the base to avoid the media.
While we wrote our witness statements back at base we heard that Ryan was in hospital but that his fate was uncertain - he'd been buried for about 2.5hr so we both knew that some miracle would have to occur for him to be alive. When we left Coronet Peak at maybe 9.30pm there were still many unknowns but we asked the police to let us know what happened so that we didn't have to learn about it on the news. I went back to Adrian's as I wasn't yet ready to go home and Deb came over too - we all needed to debrief. Just before Deb arrived the police came over to Adrian’s place let us know the expected bad news. While they'd done CPR from burial site -> chopper -> hospital Ryan been pronounced dead on arrival, the poor guy. I feel so sorry for Ryan, his brother Fraser and his family - it was such a tragic accident that could have *so* easily been prevented, but one that has had such dire consequences.
As you can imagine this was an extremely harrowing experience to be a part of. So many questions and so few answers. Being so far away from Sophie (I’m in Canada at the moment) during this has been especially hard on both of us. But on the other side of anguish comes catharsis.
Sophie has decided to put on a showing of the excellent avalanche education film, The Fine Line as a way to raise awareness in Queenstown. The organizing of this event has been really beneficial for everyone involved, it’s really helped with the process of healing. If you live in Queenstown I strongly encourage you to come to the film, not only is it a great piece of filmmaking but also we are donating all funds raised to NZ Land Search and Rescue.
Here is the press release for the event:
"Ski Porn with a Public Service Message" at the World Bar.
This Thursday at 6.30pm, AdventureSKope Productions will screen the award-winning avalanche film The Fine Line at The World Bar, with all proceeds going to New Zealand Land Search and Rescue. The film that was famously described by Powder Magazine as "ski porn with a public service message," well and truly breaks the stereotypes for educational films. It delivers the deep powder, big lines and huge air you’d expect from a great ski movie, but The Fine Line goes a step further, teaching audiences what avalanches are all about - and how to ride and survive them.
AdventureSKope event director, Sophie Kennedy says she was inspired to organise the screening after being one of the first on the scene at the avalanche that killed Ryan Campbell. "Although we weren't able to save Ryan, I hope that by screening this movie and increasing avalanche awareness in Queenstown, we might be able to prevent situations like this happening in the future." Kennedy said, "If you have any interest in avalanches, snow sports, backcountry access or simply exquisite cinematography you should see this film. You just never know, someone's life might depend on it some day."
The film’s cutting-edge cinematography which includes wire-cam, time-lapse, animation – and even a claymation cameo – has seen it win a swag of international awards including "Best at Festival" at the 2009 Fernie Mountain Film Festival, "Best Director" as the X-Dance film festival and "Absolute Winner - King of Films" at the 2009 Livigno Film Festival in Italy.
Doors open at the World Bar, Queenstown at 6.30pm with the film starting at 7.00pm. Tickets are $10 with all proceeds going to Search & Rescue. House drinks are $4 and entry to the spot prize draw is included. Prizes from - Body Sanctum, Harris Mountain Heli-Ski, IO NZ, Joe's Garage, Onsen's Hot Pools, Outside Sports, Petzl, Quest, The Studio Pilates & Physiotherapy & The World Bar.
Click HERE to see the facebook page about the event and register your RSVP.
Thanks for reading and we hope to see you there.
S&S
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