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Big Avalanches in Austria

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Apologies if this is posted elsewhere but There seems to have been two fatal avalanches in Austria today. One taking the lives of 5 Czevh skiers.
Thoughts with families a friends.
Be careful out there folks. Theres been a lot of snow and it's warming up.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Six dead.

Avvy 1 = Five hikers in snowshoes, at 2800m.

Avvy 2 = One police officer, doing highmountain training.
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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?
Myself, Kooky and GeePee were with a group crossing the Dachstein glacier and passed below this slide approx 25 mins later on the pisted path. 5 snowshoers had left an overnight hut in the early morning and looked to have toured up behind Hohe Dachstein, they were the ones who got hit. There were a hundred mountain rescue responders plus dogs, helicopters landing every few minutes. Amazing rescue attempts but probing such a big slide takes a lot of time. So sad.
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Very sad day indeed.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Not sure whether it would have saved them but according to reports none of them had any safety equipment.

https://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/lawinenabgang-mit-fuenf-toten-am-dachstein;art4,3237209
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@DB, Most climbers don't carry avi gear as there is already a lot of gear being carried and depending on the route bulky items are often a problem. Most avi's that hit climbers have a much higher risk of trauma from rocks and falls. However, when I was ice climbing way back in Canada we took probes and shovels due to the snowy approaches. On the glacier you also need crevasse extraction kit, there are a lot of really large ones up there.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Scarpa,

The press is reporting that they were just snowshoers, what makes you think they were climbers?

Maybe they were planning to do the Randkluft-Klettersteig but then they would normally have had boot crampons and ice axes for a winter ascent.
https://www.outdooractive.com/de/route/klettersteig/ramsau-am-dachstein/ueber-den-randkluft-klettersteig-normalweg-auf-den-dachstein/1362810/

I've ski-toured and then done klettersteigs up on Dachstein numerous times (e.g. Rumpler runde). The size of the avi safety equipment and glacier safety equipment was never much of an issue - with perhaps the exception of one long deadman that was used on a snow-anchor training session in the Dachstein Dirndl.

Unless there is very little snow or I'm just snowshoeing on a plateu with zero avi risk, I'd always take my avy safety equipment when snowshoeing.

Apparently the guy who runs the hut they were staying in warned them that it was very dangerous as the wind had built up large cornices but they still set off at 8:00 am.
https://www.krone.at/2113161
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
More news has emerged about yesterday's awful event at Dachstein. It appears the five Czech nationals had spent the night at the Seethalerhütte, then started out in the morning on a snowshoe trek towards the Randkluft. It is likely they triggered the avalanche themselves and they weren't carrying safety equipment.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@DB, Last night they were reporting that they were members of a climbing club and were heading for the klettersteig on Hohe Dachstein. Details are still a little sketchy.

I am in total agreement with you about carrying the safety equipment, on glaciers too many things can go wrong. But lot of climbers still don't take it.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Wed 11-03-20 9:20; edited 1 time in total
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@Scarpa,

Not that I ever ever doubted you (honest Little Angel ) but just read something that said the group had snowshoes and climbing gear but no avi safety gear.

Another report said it took at least 30 mins to get the avalanche dogs there and start searching although people (e.g. ski tourers) were there with transceivers within a few minutes after it happened but couldn't get a signal.

Someone reported seeing the group just before the avalanche and said they were very close together. Spacing out the weight might also have reduced the chance of the avalanche.

Photo and video clip of area after the avalanche here - https://www.nachrichten.at/oberoesterreich/der-tag-nach-der-dachstein-katastrophe;art4,3237944

The avalanche was around 4 times larger than expected for that area and if it had released later in the day it's likely more people would have been on the slope, albeit probably with avi safety equipment.


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Wed 11-03-20 10:11; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@DB, Yes, as the probe lines were starting (200m wide needs a lot of people) you could see that the entire debris field had already been skied from side to side in a classic transiver search sweep.

I photographed another slide similarly situated below a rock face and there was actually a double crown where the first section had sheared and then carried enough weight to penetrate to a deeper slab layer about twice as thick. Another slide occurred later in the bowls some distance below the Simonyhutte.
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