 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The competition is the world ski mountaineering championship. I'm told no-one involved in the competition - competitors, marshalls or judges is missing or has been hurt. Someone got a graze from being hit by a ski.
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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?
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Looks really bad !!
20 feared buried in Italy avalanche
From correspondents in Rome
March 03, 2006
AROUND 20 people are feared to have been buried today after an avalanche swept down a mountainside near Italy's border with France, the ANSA news agency reported.
Rescue workers quoted by the agency said around 20 people were buried by tonnes of snow which swallowed competitors and officials taking part in a ski competition in Artesina near Cuneo, in the northern region of Piedmont.
Dozens of workers were trying to dig through the snow in a frantic search for survivors and helicopters had been called in to help get the injured to hospitals, officials said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18343054%255E23109,00.html
That's just up the road from here I was skiing off piste in the next valley last weekend. Scary 
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davidof, do they do safety work on the course for ski mountaineering competitions? would have thought it would be impractical a lot of the time. or do they just cancel the race if avvy danger is too high?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Arno wrote: |
| davidof, do they do safety work on the course for ski mountaineering competitions? would have thought it would be impractical a lot of the time. or do they just cancel the race if avvy danger is too high? |
Both of what you said Arno. The courses are generally very close to ski resorts for logistical reasons. They will avalanche control the course but obviously if the weather is too bad it would have to be cancelled. The aim is for very low risk but competitors will have still have to carry the usual beacon, probe, shovel and normally a helmet, ice axe and cramons.
I guess someone made a bad desision here?
Someone at the scene who works for a French news organisation I work with said no casualties amongst the competitors or support staff but didn't say whether there were other casualties.
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Ok it looks like two minor injuries nothing more (fingers crossed). At 13h00 no-one was reported missing. The slide came from the Rocca Giardina and crossed the track used by the competition just above the ski lifts of Artesina. One competitor was knocked off his feet and another was grazed by a ski. There is a close probe line at the moment to make sure no spectator was beneath the slide which is described as "limited" so waiting for a final figure. - This is from a race official.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 3-03-06 14:59; edited 1 time in total
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Did this happen skiing on a piste? Sorry I don't know what a mountineering competition is.
I'm going to Austria on Saturday. Though I don't go off piste, this is v. worrying as they have had (and still are having) masses of snow.
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| Beverley wrote: |
Did this happen skiing on a piste? Sorry I don't know what a mountineering competition is.
I'm going to Austria on Saturday. Though I don't go off piste, this is v. worrying as they have had (and still are having) masses of snow. |
No the competition is off-piste but close to the ski area.
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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.
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Beverley - ski patrols are responsible for opening pistes, if or once they believe there's no threat of avalanches, and closing them at any time if the risk is sufficient (or, at the end of the day, once they've done their check that no one's stranded).
It's rare for avalanches to cross pistes that are officially open, and very rare for anyone to be caught in an avalanche on a piste if it's officially open.
After heavy snowfall you can find that the ski patrol have closed many runs, which they progressively reopen after doing their blasting work or otherwise judging the pistes to be safe.
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Thanks for your reassuring reply. I'm a bit of a law obedient skier and not to be found dipping under roped off pistes, when there are quite obviously a good reasons for closing them. What's the point?
So, when I see the signs displaying the avalanche risk as high, this only applies to people skiing off piste and not on officially open pistes?
Thanks.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Beverley wrote: |
So, when I see the signs displaying the avalanche risk as high, this only applies to people skiing off piste and not on officially open pistes?
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Yes - but expect plenty of pistes to be closed if avalanche danger is 5/5
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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.
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Beverley, the avalanche risk on open pistes should always be low (whatever that means), but I suppose that it must be higher when there is a generally higher risk of avalanche. I would have no qualms at all about skiing on an open piste.
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Short answer, the avalanche bulletin does not apply to ski runs. The time to ask questions is if the bulletin is 5/5 as this means that buildings and roads could be affected. Worth asking the locals where it is safe to walk and drive around resort as this information isn't always clear to visitors.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
| I'm a bit of a law obedient skier ... |
This photo [BBC] clearly isn't you, then, Beverley!
The report that goes with that shot is a run-down of this winter's avalanche toll in the Alps, just filed by James Cove:
'Europe ski deaths to hit record high'
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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It's good to see that the Beeb is crediting pistehors.com as a source at long last davidof. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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The headline doesn't add up, depending on which time-frame is taken for the record.
The worst winter of the 20th century was 1950-1. In Switzerland alone, 234 people were killed and the author of 'The Avalanche Enigma', Colin Fraser, estimates the total death toll across Austria, Italy and Switzerland at 650-700. Most of these avalanches came down in January 1951 - five of them right into the village of Andermatt, and four nearby.
Admittedly, it's not recorded how many were deaths to skiers.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Oooh, I would never do something like that!
Thanks for your reassurance. To be honest, if it said avalanche risk 5/5 I would be somewhere warm with a hot chocolate! 
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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?
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| snowbunny wrote: |
| It's good to see that the Beeb is crediting pistehors.com as a source at long last davidof. :D |
David Goldsmith probably put in a good word for me. I'm sure they have lots of other sources though, they are the world's leading news broadcaster.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Fri 3-03-06 17:01; edited 1 time in total
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
Admittedly, it's not recorded how many were deaths to skiers. |
The "idea" maybe comes from this PH report : http://pistehors.com/comments/574_0_1_0_C/
You maybe missed it as you were dipping your toes in the sea at Bognor. "one of the worst"... but admittedly it is quite nuanced and considers the number of incidents not just the total.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The consequences of the avalanche today in Cuneo province are becoming clearer: at least seven injured, and one person missing.
This report from Reuters.
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| "There shouldn't be any others missing because the dogs have not identified the location of anybody below the snow," said Maurizio Colombo, with the local Alpine rescue services. |
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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It's reported this afternoon that a south Cumbrian man was killed by an avalanche last week in the French Alps (resort not stated).
Godfrey Davis, a 44-year-old clinical pyschologist was with his partner and young son, and was being led by a ski guide. His son was pulled to safety, according to the report, but the father died after more than half an hour in the snow.
This report from North-West Evening Mail.
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
It's reported this afternoon that a south Cumbrian man was killed by an avalanche last week in the French Alps (resort not stated).
Godfrey Davis, a 44-year-old clinical pyschologist was with his partner and young son, and was being led by a ski guide. His son was pulled to safety, according to the report, but the father died after more than half an hour in the snow.
This report from North-West Evening Mail. |
It was in Puy St Vincent
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
| The consequences of the avalanche today in Cuneo province are becoming clearer |
Or not. ANSA, the Italian press agency who was feeding the BBC amongst others dramatic blow by blow accounts from its forward base in Rome and conflating injuries to Paraolympists with the accident has been heavily criticised for its reporting today. That said the avalanche could easily have been more serious.
Apparently two skiers are believed to have triggered the slide after being asked not to ski above the competitors.
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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.
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That's right. From tracing back the stories yesterday, it was clear that ANSA's news reporting was inaccurate, with an exaggeration of the number of victims.
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