When Chris Cochrane arrived in Queenstown from Sydney 40 years ago, it was possible to ski tour from Coronet Peak to Treble Cone without taking skis off.
‘‘It has been an incredible change over my career to see the snowline going up and up and up.
‘‘I would say there are some runs that are 200–300 metres higher, 1000 feet higher now, than they used to be. They used to be a lot lower.’’
Mr Cochrane (62) is the Harris Queenstown operations manager and has been a heli-ski guide for 40 years and the Queenstown region avalanche forecaster for the New Zealand Avalanche Advisory for the past 20 years.
On the morning Mr Harris spoke to the Otago Daily Times he and the other two heli-ski guides had checked the overnight snowfall and the avalanche hazard forecast.
As so often happens these days, they agreed the best conditions for their heli-ski clients that day would be on the mountains west of Wanaka.
Mr Cochrane grew up in Parramatta, trained as a chef and worked at the Boulevard Hotel where one of his ‘‘claims to fame’’ was cooking for Frank Sinatra.
He came to New Zealand to further his career as a chef, never having set foot on a skifield.
‘‘I did not really enjoy Queenstown back in the late 1970s because it was so quiet.
‘‘There were only two hotels and I was 18 years old and you had to be 20 years old to be allowed to drink, but after about a year I really got into the outdoor side of it, which I had never experienced before, as I was a city boy.’’
In his first winter he learnt to ski and went back to the kitchen for the summer but the seed had been sown.
He spent a year with patrol and then a new business venture, Harris Mountains Heli-ski, advertised for staff.
‘‘One of the pioneers, Russell Carr, interviewed me and I got the job.
He was mentored by another founder of the company, Paul Scaife, who taught him ‘‘all the skills in the back country’’.
Mr Scaife died in an avalanche on Mt Tasman in 2003, attempting to climb 50 peaks before he turned 41, as a fundraiser for Save the Children.
In the early 1980s Mr Cochrane attended the first professional avalanche courses, developed and run by mountain guide Dave McNulty, who was killed in an avalanche in 1989 while heli-ski guiding.
‘‘In my younger days you knew avalanches were there, but you never knew how close you could come to an avalanche and so you would push and push and push and then one day you would push too far.’’
The number of thrill-seekers wanting to access the back country really took off in the 1990s following the advent of snowboards and the change from skinny, long skis to shorter, fat powder skis which allowed better flotation.
‘‘I got caught in a massive avalanche and so did my clients in the ’90s. Everyone survived but it was really one of the moments when you realise you have probably gone past a learning point in your life and you have got wiser.’’
Since then there had been ‘‘great improvements’’ in the safety, science and technology of predicting and surviving avalanches.
There were now avalanche beacons and transceivers, avalanche air bags (similar to car air bags that helped you float to the top), and every heli-ski guide underwent a pre-season training regime where avalanche scenarios were simulated and people buried.
As an experienced guide, Mr Cochrane said he also relied on his ‘‘gut instinct’’.
‘‘I have been out in the mountains where just the noise of the helicopter blade has set off an avalanche. It can be that delicate out there.’’
After four decades heli-ski guiding in the mountains, Mr Cochrane conceded there would be an end point one day but there was still a role for the older guide because their clients were getting older.
‘‘We have a gentleman with us today who is 77 years old and he has been skiing with us since he was 50 years old.
‘‘There are still people out there who have been your clients and want to go out with you and have a good day, plus you are also mentoring the younger guides who are coming through.’’
During his four decades in New Zealand, Mr Cochrane married, fathered five children, and tried most adventure sports.
Before Covid-19 Mr Cochrane used to guide US-American tour groups around the South Island and for the last six years he has worked as a guide on the Routeburn Track.
‘‘Every day I am working I have a backpack on my back,’’ Mr Cochrane said.
‘‘The challenge and enjoyment for me is no two days are ever the same.’’
