Slide near Tromso Norway?

[Tye 1on]

Doesn't sound good, +++vibes+++.
[c/o BBC]

Four tourists have died after being caught in an avalanche in northern Norway, local police say.

Police in the Troms district said one person had been pulled out alive, while another was still missing.

The snowfall trapped five Swiss and one French person. They were in a group of 12 skiers in Kaafjord.

The avalanche happened on Mt Sorbmegaisa in the north of Troms district, about 65km (40 miles) east of Tromso, on Monday afternoon.

The identities of the four victims have not been released.

The survivor was taken to a hospital in Tromso.
Map

Police said rescuers had detected signals from the skiers' avalanche transceivers buried in the snow.

Troms police chief Tor-Einar Eilertsen said a medical helicopter had been despatched and the army had been asked to help.

In a later statement the police said around 30 people with sniffer dogs were helping in the rescue.

Avalanches are relatively common in Norway at this time of year, as higher spring temperatures start to warm and dislodge blocks of snow.

link

[SiSt]

Five dead, one survivor, supposedly the guide.

http://friflyt.no/Ski/Fem-omkommet-i-snoeskred

The slide was more than 1km wide on top, about 600m in vertical drop. One of the victims was found at 6ms depth.

The whole mountain is a giant terrain trap, supposedly the sami name means "the deadly mountain".

Local avalanche hazard was set to 3 of 5.

[Onward]

Pretty damn big...

[knutito]

Another picture of the slide. The red circle shows a Sea King helicopter for scale.

[SiSt]

There were two guides (french), the rest (10) were Swiss tourists, travelling in two groups of 5 + guide.

The slide was apparently triggered by one of the groups while skiing an "extremely" steep pitch. Four of the victims were swept far into the valley, while the surviving guide was found higher up, buried up to the neck, and the last victim was found somewhere above the guide.

According to newspapers, everyone was equipped with beacons, shovels, probes and inflatable packs. It is unclear if the packs were released, but at least one paper suggests that at least one was, but had been "flattened" by the enormous amounts of snow in the slide.

Edit: The crown is apparently up to eight meters high.

[latzz]

Victims were buried @ up to 8 meters !

[latzz]

Nice area tho..

[neck beard]

A sad way for a group of friends to all die. RIP and condolences to a lot of friends and families.

Seeing as this thread is in the Slide Zone forum: Looking at that picture, from an objective avalanche terrain perspective... no thanks.

[spook]

Looking at that picture, from an objective avalanche terrain perspective... no thanks.

i'm glad i'm not the only one who thought that.

[Onward]

News are reporting people buried up to 8m deep. At least 2 abs packs were deployed, but people got buried due to massive amounts of heavy snow and the terrain traps.








This is probably armchairing, but recent heavy snowfall on ice crust/old weak layers, a massive terrain trap and 40 plus degree slope should set off some red lights...

Here's a google maps link, it's the west facing bowl slightly south of summit:http://maps.google.no/maps?q=Sorbmeg...1is%C3%A1&z=12

[Tye 1on]

Well this sucks, RIP and vibes to all the FWT athletes/friends/family:

"R.I.P. Jérôme Moracchioli
Jérôme Moracchioli, one of the official doctors and mountain guides of the Freeride World Tour, was sadly taken by an avalanche when skiing with clients in Northern Norway. Jérôme, a highly appreciated rescue doctor and mountain guide in the Mont Blanc range, was part of the FWT team on several events in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Courmayeur-Mont-Blanc, as well as in Sochi, Russia. FWT and all the athletes wish to express our deepest thoughts to his closest family and friends."

[Trace Hardslab]

Harsh. Looks like rescue/recovery team was exposed to signifigant hangfire.

[sf]

Report from The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute released today. http://http://www.ngi.no/upload/Sn%C...orbmegaisa.pdf

700m wide crown, up to 2m high. Approx 600m vertical drop, almost 2km run-out. 32-36' steep around the crown.

And a video showing some of the weak layers. http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?...feature=relmfu

[Jonathan S.]

I think this is the video you were trying to link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYPiYZfrCd4

[I can't find the pdf file, although then again, if it's Norwegian ...]

[kolkritan]

The PDF is here (but yes, it's in norwegian):
http://www.ngi.no/upload/Sn%C3%B8skr...orbmegaisa.pdf

Though there are some pics in there that might be interesting.

(Only problem with the orginal links is the double http:// , makes browsers go wack)

[sf]

The PDF is here (but yes, it's in norwegian):
http://www.ngi.no/upload/Sn%C3%B8skr...orbmegaisa.pdf

Though there are some pics in there that might be interesting.


(Only problem with the orginal links is the double http:// , makes browsers go wack)

Google translate, but yes, interesting pics and maps
Sorry about the link. Rookie mistake

[Onward]

English pdf: http://www.ngi.no/upload/Sn%C3%B8skr...orbmegaisa.pdf

[Jonathan S.]

^^ Super, thanks.
(Sure sounds like a scary snowpack combined with potentially dangerous terrain. Too bad that the report does not provide any information on the decision making, but given the nature of a commercial guiding outfit, that will probably never be known except via a lawsuit, e.g., Bay Street.)