Near Queyras. 6 fatalities. (seen on Guardian dot com; forum doesn't allow me to post links).
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Near Queyras. 6 fatalities. (seen on Guardian dot com; forum doesn't allow me to post links).
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...alps-avalanche
Six experienced skiers have been killed in one of the deadliest avalanches in recent years in the French Alps.
The skiers – four men and two women aged between 58 and 73 – had been trekking at 7,900ft when they were swept to their deaths.
The tragedy in the Queyras mountain range, close to the border with Italy, comes after a British man and a French woman were killed in the Alps on Friday.
It brings the total number of dead so far this season to at least 17. About 30 people are killed in avalanches and other skiing accidents in the Alps every year, according to the French national association for the study of snow and avalanches (Anena).
Rescuers working in treacherous conditions overnight found three bodies buried in snow on the Vallon de Bachas after midnight on Saturday. Three more bodies were found nearby on Sunday morning. An investigation into the incident is under way amid suspicions that the group may have detached a wind slab on a slope.
Five of the victims were from the Hautes Alpes region, with the sixth from Var in southern France. A police spokeswoman said she could not confirm that all the victims were French as relatives were still identifying the bodies at the local ski resort of Ceillac, from where the group had set out on Saturday morning. One of the victims was identified as Carol Nash Hamilton.
The skiers belonged to the local branch of the French skiing federation, which was holding a national conference on Sunday. Organisers announced the deaths as the conference in Nantes opened and sent condolences to the families.
On Friday, a Briton in his 30s slid to his death down a gully while descending from the Tour Ronde in the Mont Blanc range with four friends. He apparently lost one of his skis before slipping more than 400 yards. In a separate accident the same day, a 46-year-old woman was killed in an avalanche in Valloire in Savoie.
Authorities have warned of the risk of avalanches following heavy snow in recent days. There was a three-out-of-five risk of an avalanche in the Queyras range over the weekend.
Saturday’s avalanche in the French Alps was one of the deadliest involving skiers since January 2006, when five off-piste skiers were buried by snow. According to Anena, 17 people were killed by avalanches across all the French mountain ranges in the 2014 season, 21 in 2013, and 22 in 2012.
wepowder counts 33 avie deaths so far in the Alps:
http://wepowder.com/weblog/5723/Alre...he-fatalities-
^^now up to over 40.
can this be the general "shit that happens in the Alps" thread? neat picture by Marius from the snow for the euros thread, best viewed in full res. St Anton on a sunny day:
http://www.powderplus.de/wp-content/...s_MSC_5260.jpg
Another on in CH yesterday. RIP
Including 2 at Feldberg and 1 in Pyrenees that makes, what, 14 people in 4 days? :(
the number of fatalities in the alps this season seems borderline absurd to me, but i realize i have no baseline. anyone know what a "normal" amount of avy-related fatalities are per season?
fatalities per country for the last few years
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...5&d=1423037671
interesting that switzerland is more consistent. weather? snowpack? terrain? humans?
hm, hard to say. Also not sure if it's really that much more consistent in the long term. in 10/11 there was so little snow in AT that a bunch of stuff just wasn't skiable before spring. I guess CH has more high alpine terrain that is skiable even with generally little snow and really low snow winters don't matter as much?
AT
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...7&d=1423044595
AT by states (Tirol has most mountains and most skiers)
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...6&d=1423044595
CH, red=in buildings, light red=on roads, blue=mountain terrain, grey=unknown
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...8&d=1423044614
Attachment 163446Attachment 163447Attachment 163448
edit: oh and this is great, guide (full UIAGM) watches alpine club group (with 'guide') on skitour and posts angry comments and pictures on the local avalanche forecaster's website. Yay Austria!
http://www.lawine-steiermark.at/tour...eobner-lawine/
http://www.lawine-steiermark.at/imag...3__article.jpg
http://www.lawine-steiermark.at/imag...2__article.jpg
http://www.lawine-steiermark.at/imag...2__article.jpg
what happened in 50/51? avy take out a hotel???
no,that was the "winter of terror"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_Terror
wow! very interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by klar
Quote:
This period is thought to be a result of atypical weather conditions in the Alps high precipitation due to the meeting of an Atlantic warm front with a Polar cold front resulted in 3-4.5 metres of snow being deposited in a 2-3 day period. More than 600 buildings were destroyed and over 40,000 people were buried under snow.[3]
Literal translation of 'OH Graus'?
I guess we don't have to worry about global warming when every asshole is as tightly puckered as that group must have been after it let go.
^^ "Grausen" kann be any sort of reaction ranging form disgust to terror. So like "Oh HORROR".
Interesting development in Tyrol meanwhile. Besides the daily bulletin, the Tyrolean avalanche forecasting service has a blog where they publish additional information about specific accidents, the general snow pack situation etc. It has been very popular and they are always very careful to be neutral in their assessments, never blaming anyone. There were two incidents in january where guided groups triggered slides, people died and now the guides are being prosecuted.
There is a well known lawyer who often takes cases like this, defending the guides. He also happens to be the president of the Austrian Alpine Club, a hugely powerful organization and lobby group. Pretty much everyone who hikes, skis, climbs or just like mountains is a member. He has apparently threatened the avalanche forecasters in some way, resulting in them posting slightly pissy blog posts, saying the "blog is closed" now, which unleashed an outcry on social media. It sounds like he is taking issue with comments left by other people on the accident reports by the avalanche service, where people were probably laying blame on the guides.
This has huge drama potential, considering the players. Will be interesting to see how it turns out. I wonder if he intends to get every ugly comment on the internet taken down...
On a brighter note, in case people missed it, american kid was rescued after two days of being stuck in snow up to his waist in Switzerland http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...-in-swiss-alps