Final moments before skier Andrew Seton’s tragic death in Snowy Mountains

The final text of a backcountry skier who died in a tragic accident in the NSW Snowy Mountains has been revealed as an inquest begins into his tragic death.

Andrew Seton, 24, sent his girlfriend a selfie on the morning of Saturday, September 3, 2022 captioned “windy up top” but in the hours following he died in a suspected fall at Watsons Crag.

An inquest is examining the experienced skier’s death, as well as the police response and the multi-agency search before his body was discovered on a rock two days after he headed into the wilderness.

The court heard that Mr Seton set out on Friday, September 2, 2022 from his Canberra home for Jindabyne, spending that night in his car as he headed to the Kosciuszko National Park.

The following day he drove to Guthega, where his troop carrier was later found in a car park, striking up a conversation with some fellow skiers as he set out into the backcountry.

He contacted his girlfriend via text message that morning and other skiers reported having seen a solo skier travelling along a ridge line at Watsons Crag early that afternoon.

The alarm was raised when he failed to call his mother Janice by Saturday evening and his family contacted police.

The court heard that he always contacted his mother when he came in from the ski fields following a day trip.

During the search his family told police he would not have camped overnight and did not own equipment such as a tent or bivvy, the court heard.

He was carrying supplies and equipment, including a personal locator beacon, however it needed to be activated manually.

He also did not fill out a trip intention form, which would have alerted the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and NSW Police where he was intending to travel.

A Facebook post on a backcountry skiing community group alerted rescuers to his likely location when several people reported seeing Mr Seton at Watsons Crag.

Conditions on Watsons Crag were icy on that day and would have been challenging, the court heard.

A search was launched by the Alpine Operations unit of the NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, National Parks and Wildlife and the SES.

A search team set out on Monday and at 3pm his body was located by a police helicopter.

His body was found on a rock, at the bottom of a chute, near some fast-flowing water, and wasn’t able to be retrieved until the following day, with the court hearing the terrain was dangerous and steep.

The court heard he suffered multiple injuries, including to the head, consistent with a fall from a height and that his death would have been instantaneous.

The NSW police have located a body in the Snowy Mountains, believed to be a missing 23-year-old skier. The body was found in a remote area known as Watsons Crags yesterday afternoon during a large-scale search for the skier, who has been missing since Saturday. Specialist police are working to retrieve the body after a recovery operation was suspended yesterday due to steep terrain and hazardous conditions.

The inquest is looking at the police response, the multi-agency search and whether it could have commenced sooner and whether he should have been recorded as a missing person from the outset.

His mother, Janice Seton, also told the court that she was at times frustrated because several officers asked her the same questions during the initial police response.

Counsel assisting Jake Harris told the court that Mr Seton died “doing what he loved”.

“He was drawn to an invigorating and demanding and highly-skilled sport,” Mr Harris said in his opening remarks on Monday.

Mr Seton was an experienced backcountry skier, having skied in Chile as well as working in the Colorado snowfields.

“He really did love skiing and the snow and the cold, we don’t understand why,” Ms Seton told the inquest during her evidence.

“It was an inherent thing that he just loved.”

Search parties found markings, which are believed to have been made by Mr Seton, and a month later his ski poles were found on the slope where he died.

One witness, David McLoskey, said he met Mr Seton as he was travelling through the backcountry that day and saw him heading towards Watsons Crag.

“It never occurred to me that boy was out of his depth at all,” Mr McLoskey said.

Mr McLoskey did say the fact Mr Seton did not return as planned and did not activate his personal locator beacon should have alerted police and search teams that he was seriously injured.

“That the PLB isn’t active in this instance should have been an alarm, 10 out of 10,” Mr McLoskey told the court.

The inquest before Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan continues.