 Poster: A snowHead
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A major search and rescue operation is under way after an avalanche in the Ötztal Alps in western Austria.
Three people have been killed, and a fourth has been taken to hospital.
Austrian reports describe a snow slide of 180m (600ft) in length and 80m in width close to the village of Vent, not far from the Italian border in the province of Tyrol.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68786994
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Once again, extremely sad news. Further details could make interesting reading.
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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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It was a large (17?) group of Dutch with guides and the avi risk was 2. The hut they were heading for has a road going to it. After the first slide the search and rescue which involved mountain rescue from all surrounding areas, 5 medical helicopters, firefighters and the military with another helicopter had to be supended for a while. There were more slides and explosives had to be used to secure the area from yet more slides. Initially 2 were found dead and 2 survivors, sadly one of the survivors died later.
Edit just watched a news report that says the 4th one is only lightly injured.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Any more info on the type of avalanche/trigger? From the avalanche bulletins it sounds like gliding avalanches are the main danger at those altitudes. If so, anyone knows if there were any visible cracks, or have more info that can be helpfully shared for lesson learning, without verging on tactlessness or speculation?
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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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Yeah that's an easy summer walk, or bike, up to the hut there. Ouch
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@wimpytwo, The local avalanche service will be investigating. They publish a blog post with the findings, normally about a week later. I will post the link when it comes out, or you can keep checking here: https://avalanche.report/blog
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@phil_w, seem to remember it’s overlooked by big slopes for a lot of it, so a bit of a terrain trap?
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@Arno, I frequently forget to review routes regarding what we are moving under. Looking up to review what’s above is easy to neglect. This is another reminder.
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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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@valais2, don’t want to overstate the risks on this one because the path from Vent up to that hut is part of a very classic tour so 1000s of people go through unscathed every year
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@clarky999, have heard of tiny wet slides which have carried people over nasty drops
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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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@clarky999, WTF happened at Stubai? Was it icy and one fell and took out the others like some kind of human dominoes?
The Bärenkopf (Achensee) report is on the blog – they just happened to be crossing the path of the glide avalanche at the point that it slipped. They did not trigger it.
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| Scarlet wrote: |
@clarky999, WTF happened at Stubai? Was it icy and one fell and took out the others like some kind of human dominoes?
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Apparently exactly that - then the one who caused it scarpered! Sounds like they are still looking for him/her.
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You know it makes sense.
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We have been to Vent last week, after Wildspitze climb. We been descending into the village about 3pm and passed 2 or 3 groups that just started ascending from Vent about 3pm. I guess normally you would avoid being at slopes after noon in springtime.
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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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| wimpytwo wrote: |
| Any more info on the type of avalanche/trigger? From the avalanche bulletins it sounds like gliding avalanches are the main danger at those altitudes. If so, anyone knows if there were any visible cracks, or have more info that can be helpfully shared for lesson learning, without verging on tactlessness or speculation? |
Lots of fresh snow at altitude, so fully loaded. Plus no nightly radiation due to clouds, overcast gone and very warm early on the next day. Steep southern slopes will inevitably unleash at some point. Workaround in thiy case would have been to go very early, meaning before dawn. Not so nice, especially as a hut approach.
I'll guarantee, if those 17 Dutch had been going on their own, they would have been condemned as irresponsible noobs. As they had hired four local guides, it has already been detemined, it was an unforseeable accident. Classic Austrian style.
https://tirol.orf.at/stories/3252702/
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Poster: A snowHead
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Here is the blog post about the Ötztal avalanche: https://avalanche.report/blog/at-07-en/9996
Loose snow triggered a wet snow avalanche lower down, which in turn triggered a large slab resulting in a huge mass of snow falling into a terrain trap.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Scarlet, thanks for posting - looks horrendous
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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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@Scarlet, Fascinating report. Sounds like they did everything right (especially spacing out where risk was higher) but sometimes sh*t happens.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Scarlet, thanks for report - some good learning from this. We are having to get used to unusual temp flucuations - nearly 30deg variation in 24 hrs the Valais. Loaded slopes being exposed to high temps.
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