Boy Rescued Unconscious From Ski-field Avalanche

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30201, 5 August 1963, Page 10

Boy Rescued Unconscious From Ski-field Avalanche

A dramatic race against time to find and rescue a 17-year-old schoolboy, buried by the largest slab avalanche ever recorded in the Craigieburn Ranges, proved an unexpected and undesirable prelude to the Canterbury individual ski championships at the Canterbury Winter Sports Club’s Mount Cheeseman field on Saturday.

The boy, John N. Thornton, of 72 Glandovey road, Christchurch, was found by the 60-stronig rescue party after about 25 minutes of intensive probing with avalanche poles, slalom poles and ski sticks. He was some three feet below the surface in a crouching position. One of the rescuers felt his crash helmet with a pole. He was in poor condition and unconscious, but he was still breathing. While being carried down to the hut on a stretcher he regained consciousness, and a few hours later had made a full recovery. Three other skiers were also trapped in the avalanche, which occurred about 100 ft from the top of Mount Cockayne, 6000 ft above sea level, shortly after noon. However, they suffered no injury apart from shock. They were John Thornton’s younger brother, Peter N. Thornton, aged 16. their cousin, David J. Lyttle, aged 18, of 118 Leinster road, and Mr J. N. Hamilton, a company director, of 12 Peterborough street. The Thornton brothers are pupils of the Christchurch Boys’ High School and Lyttle

is a pupil of St. Andrew’s College. Together with Mr Hamilton, . a mountaineer with 28 years’ experience in New Zealand and overseas, the three boys were testing the snow conditions immediately before the running of the Canterbury downhill championship. According to witnesses there was an explosion like a cannonshot which shook the ground, and an area of snow about 440 yards across, several hundred yards wide and about 4ft deep, began to break up and slide down the mountain. Two well-known ski racers. A. Coberger and R. Lewis, were right on the break but managed to jump clear. Lewis was able to step off the moving snow, while Coberger had to jump over a couple of breaks and on to the ice left behind by the avalanche. The four skiers in the middle of the avalanche area were in a hopeless position. Mr Hamilton yelled out to the other three to “ski for their lives” as soon as he heard the explosion, but they were all facing the wrong way. Mr Hamilton went down

first, being slightly lower on the mountain titan the three, but by frantically "swimming" he was able to keep near the surface of the moving snow. When it was stopped at the third flat, he was upright and barely inches below the surface so that he had little difficulty in freeing his head. Unable to Move John Thornton. ski-ing furiously, survived the first wave but was overwhelmed by a second and forced down into a crouching position. “The snow packed hard in my face and round my body and I was unable to move. I tried to lick some of the snow away with my tongue to get some breathing space,” he said yesterday. Then he blacked out and did not come to until he was being carried by the stretcher party down to the hut.

Peter Thornton and Lyttle both succeeded in staying on top all the way, but were three-quarters buried by the loose snow which came down after the avalanche had expired. Thornton had one leg and both arms out of the snow and Lyttle was buried up to the arm pits.

During the avalanche, Mr Hamilton’s gold watch broke loose, and when the snow subsided it was left lying on top. By virtue of its position, he was able to indicate to the rescuers the approximate whereabouts of John Thornton. Search operations under the direction of the club instructor (Mr Bodo Nibbe) and Dr. R. Gibson were instituted immediately. The Search and Rescue Organisation was notified at once by Dr. W. M. Platts.

Before long, more than 60 officials and skiers were moving across the remains of the avalanche, probing deep into the soft snow. Hope was beginning to fade when one of the probers struck the top of Thornton's fibre-glass crash helmet. The other three, although trapped, were out of immediate danger and were virtually left to fend for themselves while the search for the buried boy was going on. As soon as he was notified, the police representative of the Search and Rescue Organisation, Senior-Sergeant E. S. Tuck, began preparations tor the search. A Canterbury Aero Club machine was to have air-dropped emergency supplies of oxygen and preliminary arrangements had been made to organise rescue parties from Christchurch and Darfield. However, they were all dropped when it was heard that all were safe.

Third Time Yesterday, Mr Hamilton said that iit was the third avalanche he had been caught in. “I have always been dreading the third one," he said. Nothing could be done about avalanches, they were just occupational hazards. “No matter how experienced you are, you never finish learning more about the mountains.” Most mountains and ski fields were too easy for inexperienced persons to get access to. “That is one of our main problems. safeguarding the inexperienced," he said.

Several factors had contributed towards the avalanche. Snow settling on top of ice. the noise of their voices, and possibly even their extra weight. Four or five inches of snow fell on Friday evening and had not become consolidated with the old frozen snow.

A party of ski tourers, against his advice, had skied across the top of the eastern slopes on their way to the North Canterbury field in the morning and their skis had cut an “excellent" breaking line for the avalanche. They had been told to keep to the ridges, but had evidently decided to take the easier route, Mr Hamilton said.

Extensive Damage.—A motor-cycle and car were extensively damaged when they collided at the corner of Waltham road and Rogers street about 5 pm. on Saturday. The motor-cycltot, John Hugh Kay, of 424 Avonside drive, suffered head and leg injuries and was admitted jo the Christchurch Hospital. The car was driven by Sydney Francis Lavery, of 17 St. Martins road.