Thirteen people trapped in cars overnight and hikers rescued as heavy snow falls across Victorian and NSW alps

The Guardian

a day ago

More than a dozen motorists and two hikers have been rescued after being trapped in heavy snow in the alpine region of Victoria amid a dangerous start to the snow season.
Separately, bushwalkers were evacuated near Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales as snow fell across Australia.
Search crews rescued 13 travellers stranded near Mount Hotham as 50cm of snow fell around the Blue Rag Range Track near Dargo High Plains Road. Some spent Saturday night in their cars and one man in his 40s suffered minor injuries after his vehicle rolled.
Emergency services used snowmobiles to traverse the mountain. Members of Wangaratta Ski Club, the Country Fire Association and a snow plough from Mount Hotham Alpine Resort joined the rescue effort, said Graham Gales, an SES unit controller.
Gales said the roads had been challenging even for experienced volunteers, and it had been difficult to ascertain how many people remained stranded.
'We were very surprised at the number of vehicles that we did come across yesterday … that had gone out for the weekend and have been caught short by the snow,' he told ABC Radio.
'The experience of our drivers going into the Dargo High Plains Road yesterday was even they were having difficulty, and these are people that basically work in the snow all year round.'
Police and the SES said no one remained trapped in the area by Monday afternoon.
Roads had been closed across the Victorian alps, but the site of the incident was accessible to motorists over the weekend despite heavy snowfall being predicted.
The local Alpine Shire council on Friday recommended motorists avoid the road in a Facebook post before declaring the road closed on Sunday morning. However, some gates on Dargo High Plains Road wouldn't be locked until Thursday, the local mayor, Sarah Nicholas, said.
'In the alps, during the declared snow season, you have to carry chains … so people should have chains with them during this current [long] weekend,' she told ABC radio.
Police in 2024 turned back nearly 1,500 vehicles from the Mount Hotham area for failing to carry mandated wheel chains.
Two hikers were rescued from the Wonnangatta walking track in Vioctoria's Alpine national park on Monday, police said.
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Emergency crews separately rescued two bushwalkers stranded near NSW's Mount Kosciuszko on Sunday after the pair were stranded in blizzard conditions.
A search party advanced through fierce snow on Saturday towards the 31-year-old man and 28-year-old woman but was forced to retreat due to white-out conditions.
Trained alpine officers then reached them late on Saturday night and the pair was escorted from the Kosciuszko walking trail to a staging campsite and evacuated by 4am on Sunday.
Hotham Alpine Ski resort reported 12cm of snow in the 24 hours to 9am with 63cm in the week to Monday.
The Snowy Mountains were set to see additional dumps of 10cm to 20cm on Monday, with many areas already seeing half a metre of snow over the past few days.
More snowfall was forecast across alpine regions of Victoria and NSW on Monday with some sites expecting further falls in the coming days.