28 January 2013
The video of the Mount Dixon (Aoraki Mount Cook) rock avalanche in motion
Posted by dr-dave
At the time of the rock avalanche on Mount Dixon in Aoraki Mount Cook in New Zealand last week it was reported that at least one of the occupants of the Plateau Hut caught the video in action. This has proven to be the case – 3 News NZ has obtained the footage from the climber – Neil Wiltshire – and has a nice report that features it. At the moment I cannot embed it, but you can view it here:
The really interesting element is the transition of the movement from a turbulent rock avalanche to an almost intact mass sliding on the ice base. The footage at around 50 seconds initially shows a turbulent flow, which is generating a huge amount of dust. However, at the end of that sequence it appears to transition to sliding mode (which is shown in the image above), so that ion the section at about 1:15 (and indeed at the start of the video) the landslide appears to be gliding on the ice with almost no apparent internal deformation.
It would be really good to get hold of the full video – hopefully this will emerge in due course.


Dave Petley is the Wilson Professor of Hazard and Risk in the Department of Geography at Durham University in the United Kingdom. His blog provides a commentary on landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.











Eric Miller said on 28 January 2013
At the end of the news video, there’s a link to the raw footage. This should be it: http://www.3news.co.nz/RAW-VIDEO-Landslide-at-Mt-Cook/tabid/309/articleID/284690/Default.aspx?ref=vid_2012-11-22
Keep up the great work, Dave! Love the site!