Avalanches in the Alps
Wednesday January 6, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

In the worst incident an avalanche hit a group of ski tourers in the Diemtig Valley to the south of Bern in Switzerland and then as rescuers tried to reach them another avalanche hit killing one of the doctors at the scene.

It is the first time that a member of the Swiss Air Service rescue, REGA, has died while trying to rescue people.

Bad weather hampered the rescue operation and the bodies of 3 people who were missing have now been located.

The authorities have confirmed that 6 people have died in this one incident and 8 people are in hospital being treated for their injuries.  Some are in a serious condition.

Eight helicopters, 100 people and a dozen avalanche rescue dogs have been used in the search operation that is still contining.

Danger awaits off the marked runsAcross the country in the canton of Bagnes near Verbier, the base resort of PlanetSKI, a man has died while skiing off piste with a mountain guide. 

The 2 were caught near the Tête de la Payanne.  The guide managed to free himself after being partially buried, but the client was found dead under almost 1m of snow when the rescue services arrived.

The guide is being treated in hospital for his injuries.

It is rare for guides to get caught in avalanches as they undergo many years of rigorous training but it is certainly not unheard of.

Only last week a mountain guide and 2 of his clients died while skiing off piste in Les Arcs in France.

All 3 were equipped with ABS safety bags and were carrying avalanche transceivers, shovels and probes.  However they were hit by a massive avalanche that was 1,000m across at its base and so they stood little chance.  The avalanche itself was 10m deep. 

For further details of the incident see this earlier PlanetSKI story.

Meanwhile, in another avalanche incident in Switzerland a group of young snowboarders set off an avalanche in Zermatt while skiing off piste. 

It went on to the marked run and buried 7 people including 4 children.

They were dug out by passers by and people who worked in a nearby restaurant who were on the scene straight away. One teenage child was treated for shock but the others were none the worse for their ordeal.

According to reports in local media the snowboarders, aged between 18 and 25, will face charges.

Idiot!In the last few days PlanetSKI has seen many people ducking under ropes and ignoring safety advice to get to the fresh snow.  Many simply do not realise the dangers present at the moment.

Forecasters and the authorities have been warning for the past week of the dangers.  There is a weak layer in many places in the snowpack and heavy rain and then snow has fallen on it in recent days causing the snow to be very unstable.

This is coupled with the fact that it has been a relatively poor winter for snow this season, so people are perhaps too desperate to get out in it now it has finally arrived.

In France we have just received information about the death of a Frenchman who was buried in an avalanche on New Year's Eve in Val Thorens.

He has died form his injures in hospital in Grenoble.

PlanetSKI has one of its reporter's in the resort and he has sent us this separate report.

It is still snowing heavily in many parts of The Alps though the experts predict that things will stabilise soon as the temperature fluctuates.

The avalanche danger remains high at 3 or 4, on a scale of 5 in many places and as we are hearing for ourselves out in the Swiss alps many people are extremely concerned about the high levels of deaths.

However we should also remember that deaths and accidents are statistically small and there are many many people enjoying the current excellent conditions in a safe way.

The snow has brought smiles to people's faces as we have reported elsewhere on the site.  It is a fact of life that whenever there is a good snowfall with many people enjying the condtions that the other side of the coin is avalanches.

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