Kaprun - 10 years ago today

A snowHead

In memory of the ....

92 Austrians
37 Germans
10 Japanese
8 Americans
4 Slovenians
2 Dutch
1 Brit (Kevin Challis, Ski Instructor married to an Austrian women)
1 Czech

who perished 10 years ago today.

A snowHead

In Dutch: http://www.bnr.nl/artikel/20689158/nabestaanden-kaprun-rechter

Relatives of some victims want a new trail. In the radio program was discussed that there are new circumstances discovered, which may indicate that some suspects are liable for this disaster.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Harrowing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3502265.stm details from BBC.

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Here is a full list ....

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horrible seeing that list of names and realising that it wasn't just 155 people who perished, but the number of families who died together that day Sad

I was on the train when we were at Zell am See on a school ski trip - it was pretty exciting going up in the train. Still find it hard to believe that something as simple as a faulty (or wrongly fitted) heating fan could cause the deaths of so many.

RIP

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I remember it so well, we were in Kaprun earlier in the year when 11 ski instructors were killed in an avalanche, and then they had to face a second disaster a few months later Sad

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I skied on the Kitzsteinhorn on Wednesday and my thoughts were often about what happened there ten years ago. When I came down, I looked into the memorial building. This doesn't look very impressive from the outside but I found the inside moving. There are slit windows with the name of each person who died. Now relations and friends have added pictures at many of the windows, which made it all much more personal. Young lads and lasses, tourists, trainers, families. Tragic.

After all it is free

And all they had to do was walk down, not up.

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That list of names does bring home how many actually died and the personal tragedies.

Liveezy, I thought one of the problems was that most of them couldn't get out of the train?

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Liveezy,

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Don't have the right words to express the right level of sorrow for the relatives and families Crying or Very sad

I used that train in Sept 1996 and went up to the Kitzsteinhorn peak as a non-skier. It was my first up-close big mountain experience, it was so exciting and amazing going from late summer in the valley to winter up on the mountain. Watching everyone ski on the glacier was one of the inspirations for me taking up skiing 2 years later.

It's so poignant seeing those names, how many families lost a father, whole families with young children lost, each name represents a life-changing tragedy for bereaved family, friends and work colleagues. So sad..... Sad

You know it makes sense.

LB was training up there yesterday, very very sobering, RIP

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I remember this, I had been living in Austria in 98-99 (during which the Galtuer avalanche occurred) and almost every time Austria featured in the paper for the next 18 months it was because something horrific had happened - this, the avalanche that killed 11 skiers, the Tauern tunnel fire. Really Sad

Looking at the list of names really brings home how many whole families were just wiped out, or where two or three family members died and might have left one at home.

May they rest in peace.

D

A snowHead

I am out there on 20th with Skivolution training week. Thanks for this thread. We are the lucky ones.

A snowHead

Gut wrenching. Crying or Very sad

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

As a lucky one of the nightmarish day of November 11, 2000, I today as well as every day since then commemorate to the Kaprun tragedy, its 155 victims and their families.
Ruhet in Frieden.

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IEI, welcome to snowHeads.

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IEI, Wilkommen am Snowheads.

Yes I was using that train on a holiday in the previous ski season, so when the tragedy occurred I could relate very strongly to it. Sad

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I think of the tragedy each time I visit the Kitzsteinhorn, often (as last Wednesday) at the beginning of my season around the anniversary of the fire. The memorial building for the victims shown in the photo below doesn't look much from the outside but I find it very moving inside. There is a slit window remembering each person who died, with a stained glass insert giving the name and date of birth. You see young brothers, the Japanese group, older people. Relations and friends have personalised each window with photos and suchlike. It is a spot for quiet reflection.

Edit: Hadn't noticed that the thread was from last year originally, so I rather repeated myself - but the thoughts stay the same.

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Went up it in summer 96 with my wife and niece, walking and had such a great and memorable day, still cant believe that this happened, RIP to all those involved thoughts to the familys.

After all it is free

I was supposed to be there with friends that day. We would have been on the train possibly that one, as I preferred it to the cable car. My friends had to cancel last minute, so I decided not to go on my own. My family thought I had and spent the whole day trying to get hold of me as did other friends. I had decided to go out without my mobile phone for a walk around town instead. When I finally got home at about 6 in the evening my Dad was about to set out for the airport as he was convinced I was among the dead or injured because they could not get hold of me and nor could any of my friends they knew.

I sat in the dark for a long time crying when I found out what had happened. I still get a very cold feeling when I show up there in the morning to ski.

What a horrific tragedy. What actually replaced the funicular? Was it another funicular or the gondola you can see in the photo posted by espri above?

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The funicular didn't run after the fire. The left hand of the two gondolas in the picture, the Funitel GletscherJet 1, was built to provide more capacity.

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Thanks espri

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I remember watching a programme about the fire, think it was Discovery Channel and the cause was a faulty heater in the rear cab that was designed for "home" use! the glass on the train was also toughened which prevented more people in that rear car escaping on time.

Very very sad and harrowing.

I was there the year before with a group of friends and remember the first time up on the train. Something new and crazy about it, and fun as well. THen when the disaster happened, it changed my view of funicular tunnel railways ever since. I always get in the bottom cabin now.

RIP

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Kaprun - 10 years ago today

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