The avalanche four skiers safely avoided near the Treble Cone Ski Area yesterday was big enough to kill.
It was triggered by the group in Hidden Valley, in the "out of bounds'' area beyond the ski area, just before 12.30pm.
Public relations consultant for the ski area Fiona Woodham said the skiers were not caught by the avalanche and skied out safely.
The four then went back to carry out a "transceiver sweep'' of the debris and a visual search to ensure no-one else had been caught.
Aspiring Avalanche Dogs founder Matt Gunn, and his search dog Rocket (6), and Andy Wardell and his dog Tuki (6) were among those who also checked the debris, which was up to 2m deep in places.
"It had the energy and potential to do some serious damage,'' Mr Gunn said.
"It ran a long way. It was a very energetic avalanche.''
He judged it to be "2.5'' on a scale of one to five, meaning it was capable of killing someone caught by it.
Mr Gunn said the avalanche danger in the region was increasing because cold southerly winds were creating slabs of frozen snow, the most potentially dangerous avalanche conditions.
"We are on high alert at the moment.
"The hazard's going to continue to increase throughout the region during the week, and into the foreseeable future.''
While he had not met up with the four skiers who triggered the avalanche, Mr Gunn said it seemed they were well-equipped for back country skiing and had followed the right course of action after the event.
"Everyone was delighted that they were in the back country with the right equipment and obviously knew how to use it.''
Mr Gunn said Hidden Valley was "avalanche prone'' and while it was "very easily accessible'' from the ski area, it was outside the ski area's control.
"Back-country people go out there at their own risk.''
He advised anyone planning to venture into the back country that they needed to be very experienced and should check the Mountain Safety Council's avalanche advisory.
Mr Gunn, Mr Wardell and their dogs are volunteers who are part of the Wanaka Land Search and Rescue organisation.
The dogs had worked well together in cold, windy conditions, he said, and with two dogs working together "you can come away feeling very confident that there's no-one to find''.
