Snowboarder killed by avalanche named

The snowboarder swept to his death by an avalanche near Coronet Peak yesterday has been named.

He was Ryan Manu Campbell, 30, of Queenstown.

Rescuers managed to free Mr Campbell yesterday afternoon, after almost two hours of frantic digging.

He was given medical attention at the scene before being airlifted to Lakes District Hospital in Queenstown, where he was pronounced dead.

He was snowboarding with two close family members outside the ski area when a wall of snow toppled down on them.

Campbell was buried under 2½ metres of snow.

His female companions raced to raise the alarm, and emergency alpine rescue services were sent to the area.

Emergency lighting was set up as alpine rescue dogs and searchers desperately searched for the man.

Hamish McCrostie, ski area manager at Coronet Peak, confirmed the avalanche had happened adjacent to the ski area, in a region called the Dirty Four about 1 kilometre from the boundary, near the top of the Greengates Express chairlift.

McCrostie said one of the trio set off a category 2.5 avalanche at 5pm, and the two female snowboarders managed to raise the alarm about 5.25pm.

Last week, the Mountain Safety Council blasted those who skied across back-country terrain, saying it was at high risk of avalanches big enough to bury a house. The council highlighted back-country areas of Queenstown, Wanaka, the Arrowsmiths and the Mt Hutt region as being high risk.

It said that new snow and wind around Queenstown had combined to create a dangerous situation and conditions were not expected to improve.

Late last month, Australian tourist Llynden Riethmuller, 61, was killed in a massive avalanche containing 100 tonnes of debris in the Ragged Range, near Methven.

Queenstown mountaineering instructor and avalanche expert Chris Prudden said the Coronet Peak boarders were in an out-of-bounds area.

"Any time you're on uncontrolled terrain out of bounds you've got to have the equipment, training and knowledge of snow stability. Without that, you're just running the gauntlet and taking a real punt."

Prudden said more than 90 per cent of those caught in an avalanche had triggered it.

"There had just been quite a vigorous snowfall and a lot of wind lately everything depends on how the new snow is bonded to the old snow.

"He must have found the tension point or overloaded it by going in there."Prudden said the major issue was the snowboarder's lack of a transceiver.

"With a beacon, you can be found within minutes. Without one, it's going to be a long time before someone finds you.

"The survival rate falls off very quickly. It goes from 90 per cent chance in the first 15 minutes down to about 10 per cent survival not long after that."

- The Press