Heliskiing operations resume in Methven today after a weekend off following the death of well-known ski guide Jonny Morgan, killed in an avalanche on Friday.
He was the second person to die in an avalanche in Canterbury's Ragged Range in the past three weeks.
As the local community gets to grips with the loss of the popular 38-year-old Alpine Guides staffer, details have emerged of his involvement in an heroic rescue attempt in 2004.
Mr Morgan was awarded a Royal Humane Society bronze medal for his attempt to save a skier who fell through a snow bridge and into a crevasse on the Ramsay Glacier in July 2004, The Press reported.
He and two other guides found Australian skier Joshua Heuchan at the base of the crevasse 35m down, but still alive.
Before he could be reached, a second snow bridge 15m below the surface collapsed on Heuchan, burying him under 8m of ice.
Mr Morgan abseiled into the crevasse and tried to reach the man.
He was joined by the other guides and the trio worked for an hour to try and recover Heuchan's body before poor light and danger from falling ice forced them to abandon their efforts.
Mr Morgan was also among rescuers who tried to save Australian tourist Llynden Riethmuller, 61, when he was caught in an avalanche in the Ragged Range on July 24.
Mr Morgan, who had worked for Alpine Guides for 13 seasons, was leading a party of four tourists when he was struck by an avalanche on Friday afternoon.
His clients, a Japanese couple and Australians Daryl Willsher, 40, and Dale Anderson, 39, survived.
Alpine Guides managing director Bryan Carter said Mr Morgan was a dedicated guide who was known to be very cautious.
"Jonny always veered to the conservative end of the spectrum."
Mr Carter said although the avalanches were close to one another, there were no similarities between topographies or snow conditions.
The avalanches were "quite, quite different" and "pure coincidence".
The company planed no major changes as operations resumed today, Mr Carter said.
NZPA