Series of avalanches after heavy snowfall in Alps: at least five dead, Chinese ski video becomes fatal

One of the dead, a 32-year-old Chinese, caused the avalanche that would cost him his life on Friday in the Austrian ski resort Hochgurgl-Obergurgl near Sölden (Tyrol). The thirty-something left with another Chinese and a German from the top of the 3082 meter high Wurmkogel to an area outside the ski slopes to make video recordings at a steep rock ledge.

Things went wrong at the first jump, Austrian media reported. The 32-year-old skier lost control of his skis and fell. The impact dislodged a sheet of snow about 500 feet wide, dragging him to an area about 100 feet below. There he was buried under snowdrifts. The 22-year-old skiing companion who was filming slightly below the edge was also dragged a few meters but managed to free himself from the avalanche. He followed the mass of snow down and managed to locate the thirties with his avalanche beacon. Meanwhile, the 39-year-old companion alerted the mountain rescue service.

When the mountain rescuers arrived, the two foreigners were digging out their skiing companion. The rescuers succeeded moments later and tried to resuscitate him while they took the victim to the place where a helicopter was to land with an emergency doctor on board. The latter also failed to resuscitate the thirty-something, after which the attempts were discontinued due to the hopeless situation.

A 17-year-old skier from New Zealand died on Saturday in the Hochzillertal/Hochfügen ski area near Kaltenbach (Tyrol) in Austria. According to the APA news agency, he also skied off-piste and was surprised by an avalanche.

On Saturday morning, a skier who was reported missing on Friday was found buried in the snow in the Kleinwalsertal ski area near the Austrian-German border (Vorarlberg). According to the regional news site vol.at, it is a man in his mid-fifties.

On Saturday morning, an avalanche in the Swiss ski resort of Val Segnas above Disentis (Graubünden) killed a 56-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man. They skied off-piste through a snowy gully on a mountainside, according to police. The avalanche broke loose above them.

The third skier was unharmed and tried to free the two from the snow. A first rescue operation by a mountain rescue team had to be interrupted due to bad weather. After a new attempt in the course of the afternoon, the two fatalities could be recovered. It was initially unclear how many skiers were hit by the avalanche. The Public Prosecution Service and the Alpine Brigade of the Graubünden Cantonal Police have launched an investigation to determine the cause of the avalanche.

In Graubünden there is a high avalanche danger in some areas with warning level four, the highest.

Austria’s warning level of four on a scale of five has not deterred many winter sports enthusiasts from venturing off the marked trails, authorities said. This led to numerous rescue operations on Saturday.

The school holidays have started in Austria and the ski resorts are now full after a difficult start to the winter sports season with little to no snow. In the Alpine country, an average of about twenty people die every year from avalanches and snowslides.