Avalanche risk
February 5, 2010
Unstable snow-laden slopes have killed eight people this week in the Alps. Among the victims were four German winter sports enthusiasts and a British airman training on skis.
A Royal Air Force spokesman said two other servicemen were rescued with minor injuries after they were buried briefly near Oberstdorf in Germany's Allgaeu region. It took an hour to find the third man. Attempts to reanimate him failed.
A large sheet of snow measuring 300 by 400 meters had broken away as 27 personnel on a week-long skiing tour were being led down the Bolgental Valley by instructors.
Risk high, warn alpine experts
Alpine experts warn that on avalanche-prone slopes even a slight disturbance by winter sports enthusiasts can trigger a disaster. Since Christmas parts of central Europe have been carpeted by snow and ice masses not experienced since the late 1970s.
On Thursday alone five winter sports enthusiasts were killed in Austria. One of them was a German woman who was buried by snow while skiing with her companion near a peak in the Zillertal region. Tirol police say her friend managed - only hours later - to free himself before making an emergency call with his mobile phone.
To the east, in the Kasberg area of northern Austria, an avalanche killed a 29-year-old Austrian woman on a ski trek.
Snowboarders caught by avalanches
Thursday's other victims in Austria included two snowboarders, who were caught by an avalanche in Pongau, a popular mountain region south of Salzburg. They had allegedly ventured off the so-called piste or the ski field's marked slope.
Another snowboarder was swept 600 meters downhill by a snow mass in Austria's Voralberg region. The 22-year-old was recovered unconscious but died later in hospital, according to the news agency AP. Two youths had been killed in the same area on Wednesday.
Avoid steep, high slopes, warn avalanche services
Friday's avalanche bulletin for Austria's Tirol region said the avalanche danger existed on steep slopes "in all expositions (orientation of slope)."
"We continue to recommend high caution and great restraint in entering all steep slopes. Snowdrifted steep slopes, even in sparsely wooded forest areas, should be avoided without exception."
On the German side of the Alps, Bavaria's warning service said a "considerable avalanche danger" exists above 1,600 meters in altitude.
Even normally adept alpine animals are at risk. On Tuesday an ibex mountain goat triggered an avalanche that swept onto a ski slope in Austria's Lech-Zuer region. Rescuers found only the goat dead in the mass of snow. Mayor Ludwig Muxel told the news agency dpa the incident was unique. “That's never happened before. Ibex are by far the best climbers.”
ipj/dpa/AP/AFP
Editor: Rob Turner