Christmas Eve Avalanche in St. Anton

[H-man]

I don't really know much about this incident so I won't comment other than one person was killed. I was sent these pictures by my buddy Andy. Looks very big and this is certainly no fall terrain. Scary. I know Comish was in town right after this. He might know a little more about it.

Valluga Nord

[klar]

this was discussed on the german board. apparently it ran for 1000 vertical meters(?) and the person got swept over the cliffs. body was eventually recovered by a search dog. as can be seen in the pictures, the whole slope went. the rest of the group (guided) that the victim was with had gathered in a safe spot but was unable to ski down after everything had slid. they were rescued by heli. victim had a beacon, avalanche bulletin said level 2 that day.

[H-man]

Thanks Klar.

I have skied that countless times. 1000 meters would be pretty tough to get from there. The summit is 2811 meters and the village (all be it this went in the other direction) is about 1320 meters. Sad none the less.

RIP

[Arno]

the thought of that ripping away is frikken scary. and on a level 2 day

thanks for posting - interesting and sobering stuff

[Hicks]

Despite being frequently skied that slope is one of the most avy-prone in the whole area. Often heavily wind loaded.

That said it is still amazing how often even partys with local guides had been caught in slides up there, with some - as in this case - ending fatally.

[Mulletizer]

I read this post and thought what a horrible looking avalanche that was. Just heard that the man killed was a good friend from my schooldays. Pretty bummed. We're down one extremely bright, very talented, all-round lovely bloke as a result.

[Ripzalot]

bummer....


+++vibes+++

[The Dad]

Vibes indeed. And holy shitballs, that's a big crown.

[Lonnie]

Sad, as any death in the mountains is. Did anybody else notice the other crown (see arrow)????

[H-man]

Very sorry man.

[irbis]

Thanks Klar.

I have skied that countless times. 1000 meters would be pretty tough to get from there. The summit is 2811 meters and the village (all be it this went in the other direction) is about 1320 meters. Sad none the less.

RIP

Seconded, it's pretty much impossible to get 1000 vertical meters from the top of the Valluga, although this is pretty much irrelevant now. I skied that with a guide friend a couple of times, always thought it would be pretty ugly if it went...

Vibes +++

[F.D.V.]

Looks nasty!


+++++ vibes!

[telelebowski]

Christ. What a crown. No chance on that north face

[comish]

I can finally add onto this thread. Pretty fucking daunting and makes you stop and think a bit about where we ski and the ramifications. That is a fkna awesome area that I have definitely enjoyed.

H- had a bier with Andy, well he said lets have a bier so I order a bier (mind you, I had just rocked up to our hotel around 7pm with my dad, wife and inlaws from the Mooserwirt so didn't really neeed another bier) and Andy orders a tea? What kinda guy suggests a bier and has a tea?

He showed me the picts on his phone and talked about it. Thing was, from what I had read and observed, stuff was pretty stable. I think the fact it went this big on a 2 rated day when generally stuff was stable is really daunting. Sounds like they did pretty much everything right which the fact that only guy went down attests to. He said there was definitely a bunch of talk and going to be an investigation about this. There were 4 goups up there that morning that had already skied it from my memory, albeit a bit trashed at this point. Sometimes the TGR armchair quarterbacking goes ballistic on a lot of people for incidents, but this one would be hard second guess...

Some of figures Andy talked about as far as number of dead guides are pretty staggering. I remember the last time I joined a group for a day I was the only other person with my own gear (and therefore in my opinion, the only one with a fighting chance at knowing how to use it). Kinda tough to survive when most of your team either doesn't have probe and shovel, doesn't know how to use a beacon, or both. It wouldn't have mattered for shit in this situation as that is suck a no fall zone that once that thing goes, good night.

I have some pictures of this slide taken from above, but really none of then show it as well as Andy's picts.

Vibest to the victims family. Awefull tragedy.

[H-man]

Thanks for the update D. I have had a shit ton of fun there. This really makes you think about the potential.

[GimpToo]

Damn, that's tough . . . was there last February, so it's rough to hear of this misfortune . . .

[splat]

this was discussed on the german board. apparently it ran for 1000 vertical meters(?) and the person got swept over the cliffs. body was eventually recovered by a search dog. as can be seen in the pictures, the whole slope went. the rest of the group (guided) that the victim was with had gathered in a safe spot but was unable to ski down after everything had slid. they were rescued by heli. victim had a beacon, avalanche bulletin said level 2 that day.

Looking at that slope kinda makes me wonder where that safe spot was.

[comish]

Splat, its down to the skiers left. The whole route basically runs toward the left above a big ass cliff. Sooo, if the slope goes, you is fucked. I'm guessing they skied down to where they were no longer above the cliffs which would be out of sight in this pick to the lower left of the pict.