Two Dead in One Week at Australian Ski Resorts | Big Snowstorms to Blame:

Last week, Australian ski resorts received over 6 feet of snow.  This series of storms caused two deaths at Australian ski resorts.

A male staff member of the Perisher ski resort in Australia has been found dead overnight at the ski resort.  He was snowboarding at the time of his death.  Right now, there are few details of what happened to this snowboarder.

“We believe it was a tragic mishap, an investigation is under way.” – Detective Inspector Shane Box of Queanbeyan police

“This was a snowboarding accident.” – Detective Inspector Shane Box of Queanbeyan police

This deceased snowboarder was reported to have been riding with friends when the friends got a bit ahead of him and lost sight of him yesterday.  At 10:50pm on Wednesday, Perisher officials contacted the police to report the man missing after he hadn’t shown up for his shift.

Police began searching the ski resort immediately and were able to locate the man’s body at 11:30pm Wednesday.

This tragic ski resort death at Perisher was the second death at a ski resort last week in Australia.  On June 26th, 2014, a 7-year old boy was buried by snow that fell off a roof at Mt. Buller ski resort.  The boy did not survive the burial.  The boy was outside playing in a large snowstorm with his siblings when the snow slid off the roof and buried the boy.

“We believe there’s been some sort of slide off the roof of a building that’s engulfed him.” – Police Sargent Matt Bennett

The boy was found within 20 minutes but had already entered cardiac arrest.

There were also two very near misses in Australia last week.  On Sunday, a 36-year old male Sydney snowboarder was trapped under 6 feet of snow after being buried by an avalanche at Thredbo ski resort.  This snowboarder had ignored warning signs and ducked ropes into a run called “Hipcheck.”  He then triggered an avalanche and was buried 6 feet deep.  Luckily, ski patrol found him with a probe and he was still alive.  Damn lucky.

”I thought I was dead.  The only thing I remembered from past footage and stuff of people getting caught in avalanches is you’ve got to preserve your oxygen because you’ve got a minimum of it.” – the buried snowboarder

On May 28th, an older couple in their 60s spent 24 hours out in the Thredbo ski resort area of Australia.  They wandered off on a hike at 10am on May 28th and got lost.  They spent the night out before finding their way back to Thredbo the next morning.

“They were equipped quite well for a day bushwalking, they had thermal clothing and Goretex gear and sufficient food, but they were not equipped for a night trip and not expecting a night trip.” – NSW superintendent Rod Smith

Our hearts go out to the friends and family of the two deceased snow lovers.