An avalanche in the resort of Saint-Francois-Longchamp, in Savoy, Friday afternoon crushed a chairlift carrying seventy skiers, who were safely evacuated.
nozawaonsen, Thanks that you putting on a own thread,, I was in something like this in Les Sybelles last season, but it was stop just before the draglift,,
Amazing the power of it - definitley a reality check
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
interesting footage. I fail to see how it is a reality check... avalanches are dangerous
After all it is free
After all it is free
kioksor,
Quote:
I fail to see how it is a reality check.
The female liftie starts by saying that it appeared to move so slowly that she didn't at first appreciate the danger. This is from someone who lives and works in the mountains and yet plainly a reality check for her. And, presumably, a reality check for those too who think open pistes (the piste at the bottom of the lift in this case, the black one down which the avalanche came was in fact closed because of perceived risk) are immune from danger.
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Thats amazing. Despite how slow it was moving it still had a lot of power behind it. How did the people on the chairlift survive that???
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Ricklovesthepowder wrote:
How did the people on the chairlift survive that???
From what's shown on the video all the people were on chairs which were already some distance uphill from the start of the chairlift and were higher than the level of the moving snow. I would imagine that once the pylon was demolished the chairlift motor was tripped either automatically or manually. This would leave the 41 skiers on their chairs from which they would have to be rescued.
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Very scary! Just shows even though I don't venture off piste, it's still a danger and more so this season due to the snow not being so stable?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Quote:
The female liftie starts by saying that it appeared to move so slowly that she didn't at first appreciate the danger
I think she also described it as "exciting" that the lift pylon was demolished - maybe she'd have chosen a different word if people had been on the chairs which were engulfed in snow.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
pam w, she used 'impressionnant' didn't she? I think that can mean impressive, even upsetting, as well as exciting. (Not such a subtle language as English - as you can see from the imbalance in most dictionaries. )
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
From the video the slope angle didn't look especially steep.
I remember noting at the time, although inviting, how heavily loaded that slope was. Both the black and the red back to the base of the lift were firmly shut because of the risk. The only way down was via the red back to the Col de Madeleine.
The scary thing is that the entire snowpack has gone at once, right from the ground (see the wall at the top where it started - can't think of the proper word for it but there is one...). I am no expert but I think there will be plenty more of these huge, slow wet slides - I gather there is a weak layer at the bottom from when so much snow fell (mid-Dec) within a few days onto bare, warm ground at the start of the season. Now it has warmed up bits will start coming off.
Please be careful, everyone!
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"Right lads who packed the ladder?"
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clarky999, Presume you mean the newsreader rather than the liftie? (Though there have been some odd views expressed on Snowheads recently)
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I was astonished today around Brevent at the full depth full slope slides.
Never seen anything like it.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Wow, that's incredible!
Also, amazing that everyone just stands there!! Glad no-one was hurt - and just shows why you should stay off closed pistes.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Interesting to see the video of it from someone on the chair, I watched the TV footage with horror, thinking what it must have been like for the people already on it, but it doesn't seem to have been too dramatic, I expected them to have been bounced around a bit more than that when the pylon went down.
On the Tv footage, they say "le cable emportee" - carried away, If the cable was broken, what would stop the rest of the chairs decending? Would it happen quickly or slowly? Thankfully it doesn't seem to have happened at all so no-one hurt. I wonder if the guy on the chair has some video of the rescue? I saw them getting some people off a chair in Les Arcs a couple of years ago. I'm sure the "nombreuses skieurs pret embarquee" who Marie-Helene "a stoppee" were rather grateful! (I don't think I've heard the french verb "stop" used in speach before!)
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I guess one of those situations where although it must have been terrifying to have been in the chairs it may have been better to have been above it as far as they were. I guess the chairs are actually clamped onto the cables so as long as the cable persisted somewhere they must have just dangled at a crazy angle until they were rescued - a lucky escape for all concerned!!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Evacuation can't have been easy. Although the ground was fairly easy under the feet of the skier above, the rescuers wouldn't have wanted to drop them onto debris or, for that matter, the ground nearby as there could easily have been secondaries.
It's a long lift and the ground higher up is considerably steeper - not somewhere you'd want to be wallowing around in deep snow.
More fear than harm for the 70 skiers on their chair lift installed. Around 15:30, a snow slide eight feet high rushed down the slopes, hitting the first tower of the chairlift. Under pressure from the snow, the pole was bent, and was almost buried. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
The rescuers then began the evacuation of "passengers". At 18h, all skiers were rescued by helicopter, or simply come down with a rope and a harness.
According to the CRS of Albertville, the avalanche was caused by the thaw temperatures. It activated on a black run closed to the public.
Yesterday, Météo France had already warned skiers against risks "of wet snow avalanches" in the Northern Alps. Other snow slides could occur in the day tomorrow
Google translate is getting better most of that made perfect sense.
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?
Pedantica wrote:
kioksor,
Quote:
I fail to see how it is a reality check.
The female liftie starts by saying that it appeared to move so slowly that she didn't at first appreciate the danger. This is from someone who lives and works in the mountains and yet plainly a reality check for her. And, presumably, a reality check for those too who think open pistes (the piste at the bottom of the lift in this case, the black one down which the avalanche came was in fact closed because of perceived risk) are immune from danger.
Well thats just plain silly.
Everyone should be aware that there is a (small) chance of injury or death before they head up the mountain.
kioksor, sorry, but the average person doesn't - and generally needn't - worry about being taken in an avalanche whilst waiting at the bottom of the average chairlift.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Extremely fortunate that it wasn't busier, and that there wasn't a queue at the bottom or people getting on the lower chairs (especially the one that gets wrapped up in the tower)!
saw several of these type of avalanches (although not happening) across the espace killy last week, ie the entire snowpack moving, leaving completely bare ground. santons piste was closed throughout the week as at least 2 of these ran right across it, "forcing" beginners/ weak intermediates to take on the epaule du charvet or more foolishly, still using santons back down to val d.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Crikey, why didn't she stop the lift immediatey? If she was operating it she should have been only feet from the stop button ?
Another reason to dislike chairlifts perhaps, or is it the case that in this situation it would have been more dangerous to have been on a surface lift ?
After all it is free
After all it is free
Peter S wrote:
Crikey, why didn't she stop the lift immediatey? If she was operating it she should have been only feet from the stop button ?
Another reason to dislike chairlifts perhaps, or is it the case that in this situation it would have been more dangerous to have been on a surface lift ?
I also wondered that?
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Peter S, gatecrasher, I think had the liftie stopped those already on it would have been engulfed, watch closely near the beginning and the last chair with people on it only just clears the edge of the avalanche. Plus the lift operator was perhaps running for her life as well.
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Pedantica wrote:
kioksor, sorry, but the average person doesn't - and generally needn't - worry about being taken in an avalanche whilst waiting at the bottom of the average chairlift.
meh... worry no, be aware yes.
trouble with average people is they tend to be oblivious to the world around them.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
)
most of that made perfect sense.