First Swiss avalanche death
Wednesday December 23, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

The 25 year old snowboarded was in a group of 3 and they were all caught in a slab avalanche having taken the Tete de Balme chairlift in the Le Tour sector of Chamonix.

It is a well know off piste route, though also very dangerous as avalanches tend to get funnelled down a couloir and there is little escape if you get caught.

It is understood all 3 people were buried but 2 of them remained near the surface of the avalanche and were uninjured. The rescue services found the dead man buried under 2m of snow.

Considerable risk of avalancheOne report suggests he was not wearing a transceiver, but we have not verified this.

He was taken to hospital in Martigny, Switzerland, where he was pronounced dead.

People are being urged to be cautious off piste at the moment and for many areas the danger level has been raised to 3 on a scale of 5.

This is the level when most people get killed as it is not so unsafe that people do not venture off piste, but 3 means the risk is considerable.

As well as the new snow there has also been high winds in the area, which is near to PlanetSKI's base resort of Verbier.

The level in Verbier is 3 and people are being urged by the resort authorities to be extra careful.

In a separate incident a skier was buried in the Morgins resort in the Swiss part of the Portes du Soleil, but he survived.

We reported on the first avalanche death of the winter in The Alps here on PlanetSKI which was in Austria.

Bookmark this page

Related Articles