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4 killed, 9 others caught/injured, near Mont Blanc, 4/9/23
They were touring. Guides among them...
Massive slide with debris field 500m x 1000m
Attachment 455048
https://www.reuters.com/business/env...ps-2023-04-09/
Video from town here shows massive powder cloud: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65227410
Saying 6 killed now. If that footage is from the actual slide, it's a wonder anyone survived.
Got a call from my mom yesterday morning and I could tell from her voice that something bad had happened. One of the guides was a childhood buddy of mine, all around awesome person, pillar of the local community, and father to a young kid to make things even worse. Every time I'd go home I'd plan a couple outings with him and it was always a riot, he had the best energy and was the exact opposite of the guide cliché. He was equally happy taking beginner clients on meadow skipping days or getting into seriously gnarly terrain and doing first descents. My last outing with him was in the same zone the slide happened, Ms Boissal and I got to rip pow turns with him all the way down the glacier while looking down at the valley I grew up in.
The conditions have been dismal over there this season but they've been getting some snow lately and things were apparently settled and considered safe, avi risk 2/5. The slab is an absolute monster, over 1600' wide, ran over 5000' down, you can see it from all over the valley. There were over 100 people at the hut people spend the night to do this particular peak, apparently it was super busy and a lot of people can count their blessings today as there were parties ahead and behind.
This slide path has a bad habit of going huge, a few years ago it went to the valley floor (3500m down to 1200m) and ripped everything to shred on the way down. There was a massive engineering project done to mitigate the risk of torrential flood as it comes right out in the middle of the village and could potentially destroy multiple houses. Last year it slid again in the spring and while it didn't make it all the way down it flattened out every tree within 100 yards of the slide path itself and stopped at the top of the cow fields within 300' vert of the road. The carnage was something to behold...
RIP Clément and the other 5 victims, and vibes to all involved. The local community is reeling from this one...
Geez...
Fuck
Sorry Boissal. Vibes to you and his other friends. And his family and kid.
Some pictures and details:
http://www.data-avalanche.org/avalanche/1681060778618
The valley got a dusting from the powder cloud, 8000' below the crown. Oooooooooof...
Thank you for your insight, Boissal.
That's a terrible accident. I'm very sorry for your loss.
Horrible. That was a massive slide. Geezus.
RIP to all and sorry for your loss Boissal.
Damn! That's horrible. Sorry Boissal.
the scale of that is mindboggling.
My thoughts go out to you, Boissal, and everyone else impacted by this.
Would this be considered a D5 avalanche?
Probably D4
Boissal my condolences
I reached out to our Cham guide Brice via whatsapp when I heard this and he's ok but knew both guides pretty well as one would guess.
I asked if there were any fundraising efforts for the families and will post here when I find out. Tragic stuff.
So sorry, Boissal.
Condolences Boissal. Sounded like a great guy. Heart goes out to all affected by this.
Condolences Boissal
A terrible tragedy to be sure, vibes being sent to Europe, and rest in peace.