Hundreds of people are trapped in freezing conditions on Mount Hutt as high winds brought about the closure of the ski fields this afternoon.

Various news reports say that anything from 900-1,000 people may have to spend the night under shelter until conditions improve.

The Mountain has been plagued by accidents this season with three people falling to their deaths and a fourth person dying when his car left the difficult access road.

On Tuesday an avalanche partially buried two or three skiers and lead to the mountain being closed. (see Mount Hutt – No Change To Off Piste Policy After Deaths – Avalanche Update)

According to a report in the Herald, people (including a groups of school children) are holed-up in base buildings and are being charged $2 for a meal.

So far no one seems to be asking why the ski fields were allowed to open today, surely the weather forecast would have indicated that high winds were likely? If that’s the case all skiers should be given full refunds for the fees they paid and compensated for the inconvenience caused (see comments left by the public on this news report)

A number of  trapped people are twittering from the mountain, a list has been set up here. One tweeter “Gromitt” said this morning

Winds are picking up, mt hutt will probably close some time today, so going up early to make the most of it. Might snow tomorrow!

That was followed four hours later by:

The mountain is closed. The road down is closed! Waiting for the wind to drop to be escorted down. A memorable day!

There has been nothing since this update three hours ago:

Pork strog and wedges for tea by the fire. They might try to get us down in an hour if there is a break in the weather.

Another micro-blogger, Karaskull, commented five hours ago:

“Mt Hutt underwhelming so far. Road out is closed, been stuck in the kiosk for 5hrs w 400 people, can’t leave, 200kms winds outside

Details have also been released about a serious accident that happened yesterday when a snowboarder went off trail and fell over a bank onto an access road 3-4 metres below. The injured man was helicoptered-off with head injuries and is being treated at Christchurch hospital (full story here NZ Herald)

You may also be interested in:

• Mount Hutt claims third life this season – updated

• Coronet Peak has been urged to enhance its avalanche hazard signage and fencing in the upper Greengates area. The Coroner’s recommendation followed the death of Queenstown snowboarder, Ryan Manu Campbell,  in an avalanche outside the ski area boundary almost a year ago.

• Queenstown woman, Janine Learmonth, fractured her neck when she became trapped on Coronet’s new $5 million Meadows Express chairlift two months ago, she is still taking morphine for the pain. Newspaper Mountain Scene said that shortly after her accident the tension on the mechanical bar had been adjusted so that it releases if someone gets stuck while it drops down.