Poster: A snowHead
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An Avalanche hit St.Anton at 1:30pm yesterday (Saturday) Two people suffocated in the crush of snow and ice, and two others were taken to hospitals by helicopter with life-threatening injuries. An american snowboarder is still missing.
Later in the day another avalanche in the south-western province of Vorarlberg killed one skier and critically injured two others...
The Avalanche warning was at 4: heavy snowfalls, strong winds and subsequent mild temperatures made snow cover unstable and prone to breaking away.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This isnt the first this season in St Anton.
Not sure if it made the news back before Xmas. The resort likes to keep anything like this fairly low-key .
I was out there on the 19th Dec & One Amercan & One German were killed in an Avalanche in Lech just 20 metres off the side of the piste. There was also a third person seriously injured who was shipped off to Innsbruck . NOt sure what the final outcome ,
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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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Yes, as u can see, I came upon it in the middle of the night, quite by accident and wondered why it wasn't already on snowNews. When I started searching for further info, I realised that it wasn't so easy to find even when looking for it.
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Arrived in St Anton yesterday to the sound of helicopters flying overhead. It's all a bit strange and a few stories are going around the group that got hit were with a guide over the back of Rendal but the guy they are searching for didn't have a transceiver but It could be that the guy wasn't part of the group and just got caught up in it.
It was rain / sleet last week and then snowed for a few days. Problem is the rain / sleet turned to ice and the snow hasn't bonded to it. Heard a lot of avalanche charges going off through the day today.
Off to Apres ski ......
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Incidently, I was in St Anton when this monter took place in 1988.
Nowadays,when I see people skiing/boarding Rendl North Face I only wished they had seen this for real and they may think twice. Really do not think they know what danger they are placing themselves in and more importantly others in town .
The runout & noise from this slide was truly unbelieveble.
[url=http://www.avalanche.org/~moonstone/issw%2094'/avalanche%20warning%20and%20hazard%20zoning%20in%20austria-some%20new%20aspects.htm]http://www.avalanche.org/~moonstone/issw%2094' etc [/url]
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It can't have been kept very low key, my parents knew about it when they called me last night so it was clearly in the mainstream press/TV/radio.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Just got back from St Anton ( 29/01). There is still one person missing. The army were called in during the week and have been digging trenches so the dogs can try and find the last person. I was skiing with a guide on Friday who had spoken to the guide involved. None of those involved had transievers or probes / shovels. The guide for some reason was taking a small group on the slope. They were sking down to the guide individually, the first lady was sitting on the snow resting, another had lost a ski just above the guide and the 3rd was on theslope. A boarder who had followed the group up in the cable car is thought to have gone across the top of them which triggered the slide. The guide shouted for everyone to "GO", but they froze / panicked or were not in a position to move quickly. The guide got out of the way and was not caught. All were caught in the slide. The boarder was thought to have skied off, although they have found a board since and think he may have fallen off the mountain.
Big question is why when the risk was 4/5 was the guide taking ill equipped people off piste.
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Also forgot to say that the Guide may lose his fingers through frost bite as he tried digging them out with his bare hands.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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If it was a border that triggered the slide I hope if they find him/her they charge them with Manslaughter.
Can you believe Callousness of some people thinking of only themselves and not fellow skiers/boarders below them.
This of course does not condone the Guide who probably has done his final tour.
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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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stanton, I was also there in 88. I had arrived late the evening before, and it came down to the left of my Hotel. I was staying in that area again this year and had a walk around. Not much had changed and to my surprise they have obviously continued to build in that area where the people died. I did note that they have covered the Rendel side with avalance protection which wasn't there in 88.
I remember the Shell service station being completely covered by snow and tree debris. They obviously re-built it as it still exists now.
I've only been to St Anton twice and on each occassion there have been fatalities from avalanches. Lets hope when I go back next year things will change.
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You know it makes sense.
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BOD, it wasn't the Piste to Powder guides who had the problem was it?
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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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Kramer . The Guide was a local from Pians .
BOD . So you also know what a Monster Avalanche looks like Theres some photos around on the NET of the Shell Gas Station completly covered in the Snow & Debris. The Avalanche protection started to go up the summer after the slide & they are still putting up more protection every summer .
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Poster: A snowHead
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Kramer,
As stanton says it was a local ski teacher who had been qualified for 28 years.
I was with "Piste to Powder" all week and even though the risk was high we found great powder runs every day. Graham Austick (Piste to Powder http://www.skimountaineering.com/ ) was constantly monitoring conditions and turned us away from quite a few slopes after he had tested the first few metres of them.
Graham's qualifications are as follows ........
"UIAGM / IFMGA / IVBV. (International Federation Of Mountain Guides Association)
BASI. British Association Of Snow Sport Instructors National Ski Teacher
Austrian Staatliche Ski Teacher and Schi Fuehrer
French Carte Professionel (equivelance)"
Graham also conducts avalanche trainning courses, many of the workers in the bars had been on Grahams safety courses.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A bit late this post but ... I arrived on the Sunday (23rd). I heard that there were actually 2 boarders who started the avalanche, neither of which had pieps and that one of them (an american) was lost, presumed dead.
I thought I heard that the main group had pieps.
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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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pieps?
is that an acronym for transciever?
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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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Sorry, many people use the word pieps for transceiver like brits use sellotape to mean sticky back plastic or durex to mean condoms (although australians use the word durex to mean sticky back plastic of course). A synonym I guess
type in "pieps" into google for more info
PIEPS as an acronym - Perpetually Is Emmitting "Peep" Sound. Sorry, there must be better ones
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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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DB, I've also been out with the Piste to Powder guys, with Tom specifically. I was only asking out of concern whether it was someone that I knew. I know that they use Rendl a lot for the introductory days that's all.
All in all a tragedy.
B00thy, aren't PIEPS a make of transciever?
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Exactly - like Sellotape and Durex (well, not actually like Sellotape or Durex but you catch my drift)
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Just don't mix up the 2 B00thy,
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Yeah, otherwise I guess I would end up in a sticky situation
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