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School Kids caught in avalanche on closed piste

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/france-avalanche-group-of-school-pupils-and-teachers-engulfed-on-ski-trip-in-alps-a6810396.html


Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 14-01-16 7:35; edited 1 time in total
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
can't get the link to work, but where is this avalanche? is it 2 alps?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@midgetbiker, yes Sad
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midgetbiker, try Googling avalanche-group-of-school-pupils-and-teachers-engulfed-on-ski-trip-in-alps
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Sky News reporting the group were skiing on a closed piste
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Bellecombe according to this:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/french-alps-avalanche-ten-school-children-buried-by-snow-bellecombe-western-france-1537787
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Terrible.

What were they doing on a closed run? Lost?
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Just came up on the leader for the Channel 4 news but didnt say where. Le Dauphine also reporting a slide at Avoriaz but saying no one caught.
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bbc just said les 2 alpes
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Guardian website reports at least 1 dead - very sad ...
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Sounds horrific. 5 kids still missing
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35303921

The BBC say they were on Bellecombe.
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Terrible. Latest Le Dauuphin update: http://www.ledauphine.com/isere-sud/2016/01/13/les-deux-alpes-une-avalanche-aurait-fait-un-blesse-grave-et-plusieurs-disparus

It seems the schoolkids were from the Rhone area. A group of 12 were apparently involved. 2 dead and 2 in cardiac arrest. Sad

The report also says the Mayor of Venosc confirmed the avalanche happened on a closed piste. There will undoubtedly be searching questions from the authorities to the teachers/instructors in charge of the schoolkids.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Bellecombe - a party of French secondary school children and their teacher.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Terrible news
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 Poster: A snowHead
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Very sad.
And if true about the piste being closed, it does remind us (as if we needed reminding rolling eyes ) that pistes are usually closed for a good reason.
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Le Dauphine said Bellecombe.

Re Avoriaz per the local brit magazine one girl choppered off in shock but per social media she's ok.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Skiing on a closed piste at Avy 4 Shocked
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Shocking
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Today all the major access lifts in La Plagne had messages in French and English saying do not go off piste. Saw s+r dogs at Fornelet and Plagne Centre as well, very sad news
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35303921?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central
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Absolutely heartbreaking, but surely they must have been lost?
I hope to God as what kind of idiot would intentionally take a group of kids down a closed run when its a high avi risk?
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Just read this. Awful news. Stay safe people.
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rob@rar wrote:
Skiing on a closed piste at Avy 4 Shocked


+1 Shocking!

I'm out in Val Thorens at the minute and the 3V links have been closed for 3 days now, warnings everywhere at base of lifts and arrival stations

I've still seen plenty of people ignoring warnings, and I don't mean just dropping off the side of a piste either
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Very sad news. Obviously there will come a time where what happens has to be evaluated and fingers pointed, but for now, thoughts are with everyone involved
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And someone ended up in the Lake in Tignes Le Lac after a triggering a slide under the Toviere gondola. Amazingly he only required a small amount of warming up and drying in the medical centre.
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under a new name wrote:
Terrible.

What were they doing on a closed run? Lost?


Weather has been clear sunshine most of afternoon around there. I saw numerous groups skiing closed pistes. In fact many were skied out of fresh snow almost.

One thing I noticed is they don't always put the large piste ferme notice up. Just some yellow and black piste poles. Maybe people don't know what those mean. One blue run that looked closed just had blue piste markers across its entrance. We decided being unsure not to risk it. I can imagine others just assume it's fine though.
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According to Le Dauphine news: An avalanche occurred around 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday in the ski area of Les Deux Alpes. A group of ten people was swept away. There are at least two serious injuries.
6:07 p.m.: The group would be part of a dozen pupils at the school (High School) Saint-Exupéry Lyon.
18h05: Major emergency resources were mobilized: the High Mountain Gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) of Versoud, 30 rescuers of the station, gendarmerie, three dogs and three helicopters, one of which one equipped with a thermal camera.
17 h 55: according to our information, the situation is getting worse very seriously. There would be two dead and two people in cardiac arrest and a serious injury. The group affected by the flow would be a middle school class from the Rhone, which was on a one week stay at the resort.
17 h 40: Pierre Balme, the mayor of Venosc, one of two towns in the Deux Alpes resort, just confirmed to the Dauphiné Libéré that the avalanche was triggered on a closed piste.
5:35 p.m.: Four students were found in cardiac arrest and the teacher was discovered unconscious by gendarmes
‪#‎Ava‬


Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Wed 13-01-16 18:10; edited 1 time in total
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My comment:
It isn't clear if the group triggered it, or if they were on the closed piste.
4pm is a bit late to be skiing a group of children, I'd have thought
It says "Teacher" rather than "Instructor".
Apparently the slope that avalanches was named Bellecombe.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
4 pm is OK. It was brilliant sun here at 4 pm. Its the closed piste that's the problem. No excuse for that, really, with high avi risk. But we don't know the full story. Shouldn't jump to conclusions and the initial reports might well be wrong. Terribly sad, whatever the truth.
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My friend saw the search party and states they were searching the debris which was not on an open piste.
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Some reports on social media that up to 5 kids are missing. Awful.
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Looks like the 'Grand Couloir' to me from the pictures
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chocksaway wrote:
And someone ended up in the Lake in Tignes Le Lac after a triggering a slide under the Toviere gondola. Amazingly he only required a small amount of warming up and drying in the medical centre.


Is that the slide we can see on the webcam? http://tignes.roundshot.com/lac/

On topic - I really hope it was a genuine mistake that the teacher took them down that run, especially after what happened on Santons in Val D'Isere last week - although mistake or not it doesn't change the outcome Sad So awful. Those poor skiers and their families, I can't even imagine.

We were in Tignes last week and some teenage borders in the chalet were talking about how they were planning on going off-piste and down closed runs and couldn't see the problem. I showed them the various posts on here about what happened and they looked suitably sobered. I think they had it in their minds that you only get caught in an avalanche if you're miles from anywhere.
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Few photos up on Le Dauphine http://www.ledauphine.com/isere-sud/2016/01/13/les-deux-alpes-une-avalanche-aurait-fait-un-blesse-grave-et-plusieurs-disparus

The proverbial is rightly going to hit the fan after this - but for now it's just chilling to read about this and so tragic.



My local CAF were due to ski tour up Galibier today and turned back due to the danger.

Hautes-Alpes : Déclenchement d'avalanches préventives ce matin dans le col du Lautaret

Un premier Pida pour le secteur de la Marionaise, dans le col du Lautaret. Un Plan d’intervention de déclenchement des avalanches a été mis en œuvre ce mercredi matin de 9h30 à 10 dans sur le secteur de la Marionaise, dans le col du Lautaret. Un secteur qui se situe juste après le paravalanche, sur la commune du Monêtier-les-Bains. « Les schémas et pour ces plans d’intervention se font très en amont de la saison d’hiver », explique le vice-Président du Département en charge des déplacements et des routes, Marcel Cannat. « C’est la première fois que nous intervenons dans ce secteur. Le guide qui nous conseille sur les sites où une vigilance particulière est requise nous a conseillé de surveiller celui-ci, présentant un risque de coulée. » Le plan de déclenchement des avalanches de ce matin s’est déroulé en deux tirs d’explosifs pour purger la surcharge du talus. Un premier tir négatif, puis un deuxième qui a permis de fragmenter l’accumulation de neige. La coulée a apporté un peu de neige sur la RD1091, qui a été évacuée par le service des routes du Département dans la foulée, au moyen d’une fraise. Au global, une vingtaine de véhicules a dû patienter que l’opération de mise en sécurité ne se termine.*
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Terrible news. Shouldn't jump to conclusions, the facts will come out.
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Another large avalanche in Avoriaz caught a few people on piste. One person buried but no injuries, apparently.

I'm sure some of the "powder fever" that I saw all afternoon in Les Arcs was replicated across other resorts. Sometimes I wonder that we don't see even more people taken by avalanches.
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Maybe the introduction of on the spot fines for anyone skiing a closed run with all monies to go to the mountain rescue?
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Looks grim.

Current reports suggesting between 2 and 22 persons dead. Hopefully toward the lower end of that range.
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rob@rar wrote:
......I'm sure some of the "powder fever" that I saw all afternoon in Les Arcs was replicated across other resorts....


Trouble is it's so easy to get caught up in the "fever" and I'm sure many of us have been guilty of that when maybe we were less aware of the dangers, or were young and invincible.

If one particular chair had been open today, and not closed due to technical issues, there would have been powder hounds a plenty, many with no idea or gear, or all the gear and no idea.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are immediate decisions with a view to closing lifts that enable people to venture into dangerous terrain, but where do you draw the line?
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Terible, as others have said - What happened will come out and I'm sure there will be a huge enquiry.
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