Avalanches studied

Press, 17 July 1978, Page 6

Avalanches studied

Thirty-eight national park chief rangers, ski patrollers and mountain rescue controllers from throughout New Zealand this week-end ai'ended a seminar on avalanches at Porter Heights ski-fie!d — the scene of a 'Pectaculgr avalanche last vear. < -

; The seminar, run by the > Mountain Safety Council, was a long-awaited effort by :a Government-controlled body to recognise the need for national awareness of avalanches and how to deal i with them, according to a pokesman for the Porter

■[Heights Development Com- . panv. ,’! One of the main speakers iiwas Dr E. R. La Chapelle, an 11 American who has spent the f! last week studying the .iCraigiebum Range and its ! ski-fields for avalanche phenii omena. He will lecture in -(Christchurch this week. , On Saturday, after dis-

1 cussing the build-up and reI lease of avalanches, as well as the different types of I avalanches, the seminar par-

ticipants went out on to the ski-field, where they studied ' and evaluated field hazards. I They dug snow pits to learn 1 how to determine the differ--1 ent layers of old and new i snow, and the effect these ’! layers had on causing aval- ’ anches. 1 In the evening, the pro- • gramme included lectures on •he day-to-day control of avalanches, using explosives, building snow fences and 'safety precautions, as well as [safe winter travel in the I mountains. Avalanche rescue was disj cussed yesterday, followed by a panel discussion and a test.