Ski-ing on the Tasman Glacier

Press, 16 June 1988, Page 14

Ski-ing on the Tasman Glacier

A BOUT 1500 people ski the Tasman Glacier each XX year, though many more are frustrated because of the number of days on which skiplanes cannot fly. It seems that even a little bit. of cloud can be enough to cause problems for the fixed-wing skiplanes that land on the glacier from the Mount Cook airport. The glacier director of Alpine Guides, Mr. Bob Munro, says that the biggest issue is not getting in to the glacier, but coming home again. “You can be caught out by the speed with which things change. It has gone from basically fine to having to get out quickly in an hour,” Mr Munro said recently. The alpine guides can’t see southerlies coming in and for possible weather changes rely on, say, what is happening in Queenstown and information from Mount Cook Air Line aircraft flying round the country. On any day the' maximum number of people on the glacier is determined by how many they can get off the snow in 40min if the weather situation is tight. That depends on the number of aircraft available (up to 12 Cessnas and Pilatus Porters), but is usually about 70 skiers and guides, according to Mr Munro. Obviously there is sometimes a need to move fast and no skiers aged under 12 are allowed on the Tasman. The combination of high mountains and soft snow could mean their quick deterioration physically. Mr Munro 'says that Alpine Guides have a fallback position with the possibility of getting in helicopters in an emergency. Normally helicopters are not allowed to land in the Mount Cook National Park. Then there is the cache of equipment kept on the glacier each season with tents, sleeping bags and food making possible an overnight stay. “That’s our absolute fallback position,” said Mr Munro. Avalanche transceivers are not required on the glacier but Mr Munro says each guide has quite a bit of gear in his or her pack including, for instance, snow shovels which could be used to dig snow caves.

At the height of the ski-ing season the company employs 15 guides distributed between both its heli ski-ing and glacier operations. The glacier opened for the season on May 23 this year, two weeks earlier than last year.

On the Tasman no more than nine skiers are allocated to each guide and the usual guide-to-skier ratio is seven or eight.