The 2022 winter season brought some impressive avalanche cycles to the Southern Alps/Kā Tiritiri o te Moana. We are still sifting through all the data, but regions like Aoraki Mount Cook National Park had a very active winter--especially in July and August. After the record-breaking avalanche cycle documented near Mount Cook Village in mid-July, which was induced by heavy rain falling to high elevations, the snow kept falling.
We are busy combing through data from the Hooker Valley to compare the avalanche activity to previous years. We have already found some useful avalanche events that will help our work to better understand avalanche hazards in the Park.
You can read more about the ongoing research in the Hooker Valley here.
