Is'nt about time all this 'off piste marketing' is stopped?
In a way there is some guilt here! There are just to many tourists who are not a enough aware, and will never be.
Alpine marketing promoting off-piste skiing really is to blame!
It's not just tourists, professional experienced guides and experienced ski tourers are also being caught out.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@clarky999, Agree, apart from the fact that guides are probably being pressured to take a risk too far. I was going to post something similar in the St Anton/Rendel avalanche thread but saw your post first. The snowpack at the moment is a complete nightmare. We were in St Anton in February and anything fresh that fell on that "base" with these kind of temperatures is going to be an absolute death trap. You don't even need to be an "expert" to see that. The steeps will still be there tomorrow, it's not worth a life today.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
DB wrote:
Langerzug wrote:
Is'nt about time all this 'off piste marketing' is stopped?
In a way there is some guilt here! There are just to many tourists who are not a enough aware, and will never be.
Alpine marketing promoting off-piste skiing really is to blame!
It's not just tourists, professional experienced guides and experienced ski tourers are also being caught out.
As seems to have been the case with the avalanche on Rendl yesterday (17.03) that is reported in that website. The report even states that the report writers were surprised at the way water had penetrated the snow pack down to the weak layer at the bottom, which was what ultimately caused the avalanche. It all makes me wonder to what extent one can really ever be sure about the safety of a given slope, given that this was a local guide who presumably knows Rendl well and has observed the development of the snow pack over the course of the winter.
Is'nt about time all this 'off piste marketing' is stopped?
In a way there is some guilt here! There are just to many tourists who are not a enough aware, and will never be.
Alpine marketing promoting off-piste skiing really is to blame!
Yes Exactly. Folks should be made aware that off piste is dangerous & avalanches can be triggered at any time regardless of the hazard level (1-5)
Mountains are dangerous all year. More people die in the summer than winter
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Steilhang, It rained torrentially and relentlessly for 24 hours last Weds/ Thursday (can't recall which day and night) when we were there, never seen rain like it in resort. The av barriers where the avalanche happened in hinterrrendl are well below the snow line so the snow will have been de-stabalised for sure by that rain. After that downpour there was no way I was going anywhere near off-piste. New folks arrive, and do they know what happened a few days previously? Probably not, albeit the guide was likely there week previous.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Markymark29,
Quote:
albeit the guide was likely there week previous.
That's exactly my point. Sure the new arrivals wouldn't know, but the guide would/should. Also the experts writing the report were surprised at the degree of penetration, which kind of indicates that the whole science is less exact than we would like to think.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Steilhang,
Quote:
the whole science is less exact than we would like to think.
I've posted this before, but that was the strongest message I took from a film made some years ago by the acknowledged experts at the avalanche institute (SLF) in Davos. Everyone there kept saying that what they didn't know about avalanches by far exceeded what they did know.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Everybody is wise after the event and everybody has a degree in hindsight but I'm struggling to understand why the group stood in a flat area at the base of a 40 Deg slope?
When an avalanche occurs it's like a sudden river of snow http://youtube.com/v/6qVwIuznFW0, if you have the chance don't stand on the flood plain even if it means climbing a few steps up the side of a bank. Most slopes with snow can avalanche only the very flat or steep slopes (less than 10 or over 55 deg) rarely avalanche, don't be a sitting duck. http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Avalanches/Slope-Steepness.
They don't always exist but look for safe havens on a slope just in case it avalanches, these could be points you would want to ski to if the slope gives while you are skiing down (e.g. pick up speed and then ski up the side of a bank, ski up to an elevated ridge) or safe places at the bottom away from the flood plain (e.g. above and to the side far away from the bottom of a steep section if possible).
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