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#1
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Several avalanche deaths in the Savoie
Avalanche deaths around the Savoie today, four in total so far, Val
d'Isère (some confusion whether he died or is severly injured), La Plagne, Val Thorens and Les Arcs. I was in the Villaroger sector of Les Arcs today, and it was worrying to see so many people, mainly boarders, going off-piste. One British guy - ARVA equipped - was boarding on his own on the steep Col des Lanchettes in Villaroger. A couple of turns into his descent of the extremely steep first wall and the whole slope gave way. Thanks to his ARVA he was located quickly, but was already dead. Risk 4 today, and piste security are thinking of raising it to 5 in some areas tomorrrow. A major dump on top of the thin, rock-hard layer of old snow, about the worst combination you can get. Didn't seem to bother some people though. Pete |
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#2
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"PG" wrote in message
... Avalanche deaths around the Savoie today, four in total so far, Val d'Isère (some confusion whether he died or is severly injured), La Plagne, Val Thorens and Les Arcs. I was in the Villaroger sector of Les Arcs today, and it was worrying to see so many people, mainly boarders, going off-piste. One British guy - ARVA equipped - was boarding on his own on the steep Col des Lanchettes in Villaroger. A couple of turns into his descent of the extremely steep first wall and the whole slope gave way. Thanks to his ARVA he was located quickly, but was already dead. Risk 4 today, and piste security are thinking of raising it to 5 in some areas tomorrrow. A major dump on top of the thin, rock-hard layer of old snow, about the worst combination you can get. Didn't seem to bother some people though. Pete Darwin awards all round, some idiots in Austria also got killed, one cannot feel sorry because they were warned many times. Sorry to say this but I'm sure others will agree it's true. Off-piste while the risk of avalanche is at the maximum = dead. But I read today about a Charlie who crashed 200m down a mountain in an avalanche, and while buried called for help with his mobile and was rescued. His guardian angle was on duty :-) -- Simon Brown www.hb9drv.ch www.laax.ch .. |
#3
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When is someone going to stop this madness?
Sammy |
#4
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Some good links:
From Henry's Avalanche Talk (http://hat-enterprises.dnsalias.com/avalanchetalk/) FAQ: http://hat-enterprises.dnsalias.com/...939 7ADFC41D3 A great account of being in one: http://hat-enterprises.dnsalias.com/...oryContent.jsp I don't have a link anymore but I once googled up some stats on avalanche deaths and despite the cliche of the crazy foreign off piste skier/boarder I seem to remember that most were local snowshoers! |
#5
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On 25 Jan 2005 14:08:14 -0800, "Sammy" wrote:
When is someone going to stop this madness? What madness is this, then? It would perhaps help if you give (or had) a clue, like quoting some of the previous post for reference. Anyway, as for folk being killed in avalanches, there are loads of people involved in trying to educate mountain users about the risks and trying to avoid them. In these cases it's not clear whether the fatalities occurred in closed areas, but the vast majority of (European) avalanche deaths do, so it's basically people ignoring the safety advice that's offered to them. What would you suggest? Making it illegal to ride off-piste, perhaps? Only allowed in marked areas? Perhaps we should just close the whole mountain and lift system if the risk is greater than 3? -- Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club. |
#6
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Hi Nick
I don't have a link anymore but I once googled up some stats on avalanche deaths and despite the cliche of the crazy foreign off piste skier/boarder I seem to remember that most were local snowshoers! Sounds like a statistics about northern american regions. In the Alps snowshoeers are a real minority. The actual reality speaks other words: In Austria ten people were buried by avalanche last weekend, four persons died: - Three of them not from the continent (2x US and Canadian), - with one exception (see below) none of them was a local skier, - all did offpiste skiing (means "not backcountry touring"), - at least seven out of then were snowboarders. See: http://oesterreich.orf.at/oesterreic...l=10&id=363891 (German) Very intimidating is an accident in St. Anton, where a ski instructor skiied into a quite risky slope, and his pupils followed. The avalanche buried/killed the pupils. An skiing instructor should be really aware of avalanche warnings and obey them (I assume the instructor was a local guy). Florian |
#7
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"Ace" wrote in message ... On 25 Jan 2005 14:08:14 -0800, "Sammy" wrote: When is someone going to stop this madness? What madness is this, then? It would perhaps help if you give (or had) a clue, like quoting some of the previous post for reference. Ease up big boy - I like others, could suss out where Sammy was coming from - ok it was only "her" POV she was expressing!!! |
#8
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Ace wrote: On 25 Jan 2005 14:08:14 -0800, "Sammy" wrote: When is someone going to stop this madness? What madness is this, then? It would perhaps help if you give (or had) a clue, like quoting some of the previous post for reference. [snip] What would you suggest? Making it illegal to ride off-piste, perhaps? Only allowed in marked areas? Perhaps we should just close the whole mountain and lift system if the risk is greater than 3? -- Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club. Yes you're right, I should explain: I was responding to Simon Brown's tasteless post. Discussing the known facts is one thing, crowing about how evolutionarily-challenged someone is because they had the misfortune to be caught in an avalanche is quite another. Real people died agonizing deaths either through trauma, hypothermia or suffocation. Trying to look superior on a NG is quite sad and an inappropriate response. And yes, the only way to prevent this happening is to close the mountain when the risk is 4 or 5. Risk level 4 overall must mean there are likely to be sections within the area equivalent to risk 5, if you see what I mean. Since I, for one, would hate the mountain to be closed, we must accept that unfortunate accidents happen when we go out to play in conditions like this. Avalanches are no respecter of someone's experience, one of the people caught yesterday was a guide - his client died, he was too late to save her having dug her out. Sooner or later we all get caught, it is just a matter of time. RIP Dede Rhem. Sammy |
#9
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See http://www.pistehors.com/comments/400_0_1_0_C/ for more detail - just in
the Savoie region - 4 killed |
#10
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In message , Ace
writes On 25 Jan 2005 14:08:14 -0800, "Sammy" wrote: When is someone going to stop this madness? On this NG yesterday or the day before there was someone extolling the virtues of not using a smoke detector - what hope for stupidity on the ski slopes? http://www.firesafetytoolbox.org.uk/...larms/factsabo utsmokealarmsandsmokealarmownership.htm Quote: Those without a smoke alarm (which discovered the fire) are four times more likely to die in a fire than those who own alarms; Incidentally there are detectors available which have a hush button to overcome the nuisance of false alarms. What madness is this, then? It would perhaps help if you give (or had) a clue, like quoting some of the previous post for reference. Anyway, as for folk being killed in avalanches, there are loads of people involved in trying to educate mountain users about the risks and trying to avoid them. In these cases it's not clear whether the fatalities occurred in closed areas, but the vast majority of (European) avalanche deaths do, so it's basically people ignoring the safety advice that's offered to them. Just as many people forget the skier code on the pistes - if they ever knew it. One (American) instructor in Saalbach (Ski School) was openly laughed at by quite reasonable people when he took short breaks in the lessons to re-inforce the messages. This was 7 years ago perhaps it would not happen now. I witnessed a snow boarder quite close to Belle Plange about 4 years ago set off and be chased by a small avalanche quite close to the piste = this during a risk number 2 posted - he was going fast enough to outrun it and as he got close to the piste the lack of slope stopped the avalanche. I do not even know if he knew it was behind him. Perhaps it would not happen now. What would you suggest? You have got to get at each and every snow user - it is worth it because along with fewer deaths in Avalanches we would get fewer snow boarders sitting in groups in the middle of the piste So a voluntary (for starters) license to ski - sounds horrible does it? It would have to be a written test, have to be renewed, would give you a worthwhile having discount on the lifts and could be revoked by the resort staff for all sorts of misdemeanours - along with the lift pass. If it took off it could even lead to a reduction of costs of holidays/insurance It will never happen. Making it illegal to ride off-piste, perhaps? Only allowed in marked areas? Perhaps we should just close the whole mountain and lift system if the risk is greater than 3? -- Paul |
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