Quantitative Risk Assessment Of The Thredbo Landslide

A quantitative assessment of the risks associated with landslides from the Alpine Way was completed in 1998 as part of the advice provided on behalf of the NSW Coroner. The objectives of this risk assessment were to provide a basis for understanding the Thredbo Landslide and to compare the estimated risks with those generally accepted or understood in society. The assessment reported here considered the situation at the time of the landslide; considerable works have been completed since the landslide and it is considered that this assessment would no longer apply.

The assessment focused on the Alpine Way and did not include assessment of the natural slopes well away from the road because:

• the natural slopes along the Thredbo Valley showed no evidence of significant mobility of natural slides in the recent past, and
• over the last 43 years the only known mobile landslides in the area of interest had been associated with the Alpine Way. It is possible that mobile landslides from above the Alpine Way could occur in the future but these have not been considered further in this paper.