Stuart Diver


Stuart Diver is a ski instructor and was the sole survivor of the 1997 Thredbo landslide.

Thredbo landslide

At 11.35pm, on 30 July 1997, 3,500 tonnes of rock and mud slid down the side of Thredbo, a ski resort in New South Wales, taking two ski lodges with it. The landslide killed 18 people, one of whom was Diver's first wife, Sally. After 65 hours in sub-zero temperatures with only a small blanket and jacket, Diver was finally pulled from the rubble. After the incident, Diver wrote a biography, Survival, with journalist Simon Bouda, detailing his struggles with the experience of the disaster and the aftermath. Diver's experiences were also made into the Australian TV movie, Heroes' Mountain, where his character was played by actor Craig McLachlan.

Private life

Diver has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree, is a level-three ski instructor and in 2012 he became Operations Manager of the Thredbo Ski Resort. He owns a house above the disaster site and lived there with his second wife Rosanna and their daughter Alessia until Rosanna died from breast cancer on 21 March 2015.
Diver has an active role promoting the Salvation Army and he is one of the best-known public faces of the charity. He has a brother Euan, mother Annette and father Steve.