Mt Hutt accidents ‘freak’

Press, 29 August 1989, Page 3

Mt Hutt accidents ‘freak’

By

CULLEN SMITH

Separate accidents which killed a woman skier and seriously injured another in the same area at Mount Hutt on Sunday have been described by ski-field management as a freak occurrence.

An Australian woman suffered fatal head injuries when she slipped and fell about 100 m on the south face of the skifield, hitting a metal sign marking an "out of bounds” area about 1.45 p.m. She was Mrs Helen Harrison, aged 38, of Sand ringham, Victoria. About the same time, a Japanese woman student suffered serious head and neck injuries after losing her footing and sliding to the foot of the south face basin. Miss Yasuko Suzuki, aged 27, was flown by helicopter to Christchurch Hospital on Sunday, but was transferred to the spinal unit at Burwood Hospital yesterday and was reported to be in a fairly comfortable condition last evening. Both women were traversing the steep and testing south face when they slipped.

"It was a freak situation,” said the chairman of the Mount Hutt Ski and Alpine Tourist Company, Mr John St Clair Brown, yesterday. “It was just the strangest set of circumstances... most unfortunate.” Mr St Clair Brown, who was on the mountain at the time of the accidents, said the weather was clear and snow conditions good. “That makes it even more extraordinary. It was a great day,” he said. But a whiteout shortly after the accidents were reported made the recovery of Miss Suzuki difficult and prevented the recovery of Mrs Harrison’s body until early yesterday. Mr St Clair Brown said the south face was closed to the public immediately after the accidents — standard procedure to aid emergency work.

The south face had been opened late on Sunday morning after conditions were checked by the Mount Hutt ski patrol. A number of other people had also skied the area before the accidents. Both women were experienced skiers. Mr St Clair Brown said he understood Mrs Harrison was ski-ing with her husband and a Melbourne friend when she fell to her death. She had been in New Zealand only three days. Miss Suzuki, who lives in Christchurch, was ski-ing with a friend. Mr St Clair Brown praised ski patrol rescue efforts and the flying skill of Mr Allan Bond, flying his Mount Hutt Air, Ltd, Hughes 500 helicopter in marginal conditions just before the whiteout set in. “He did an incredible job. We were lucky to get her (Miss Suzuki) out when we did,” he said.

“I’m terribly concerned about the accident, but proud of the professionalism of my staff. They did a superb job.” Coming so close together, the emergency call-outs caused some initial confusion, said a Mount Hutt safety consultant, Mr Bruce Garrick. Ski patrollers found the injured Miss Suzuki when they were looking for Mrs Harrison. Miss Suzuki apparently slid past the metal signpost which Mrs Harrison hit. "At one stage we wondered how many others we were looking for in the fog,” said Mr Garrick. However, the ski-field emergency services were not unduly stretched by the two incidents. “We have enough professional patrol lers and our own company doctor to handle two ‘code 3’ (life-threatening) call-outs,” he said.