GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 17-year-old Valais youth was caught by an avalanche Sunday 5 February while skiiing off-piste with his 47-year-old father near Anzères in canton Valais.
The two, who were ski touring, had just left a groomed slope for Pointe d’Hérémence. At 2,750 metres, between La Motte and Chamossaire, the avalanche was triggered as the first skier, the son, headed down. He stayed on top of the avalanche, which was 250 metres long and 40 metres wide. His father immediately called for help and the youth, who suffered minor injuries to his knees, was flown to the hospital in Sion.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Police in the Swiss cantons around the Lake Geneva region have been kept busy over the holidays with road and mountain accidents, bank and post office robberies, and in one happy instance finding suspects and two stolen locomotives from the train park at Le Bouveret in canton Vaud.
Chavannes-de-Bogis, Grosse-Pierre / Morges post offices, hit by armed robbers
Two men held up the post office in Chavannes-de-Bogis Tuesday morning 27 December at 07:00, grabbing the manager as he arrived for work. Despite his cries and efforts to fight them off the two men knocked him to the ground and were able to force him, at gunpoint, inside where he gave them the cash on hand.
The two fled in a blue metallic BMW that was stolen a few weeks ago. The car was found shortly afterwards, completely burned, on a forest path next to the Route des Coudres, in the direction of Bogis-Bossey. Police say a relay car was undoubtedly waiting to pick them up there.
A manhunt was set up immediately. Vaud police say they are looking for two men, both 180cm tall with athletic builds, who speak French without accents. One was wearing a lightweight black cagoule (balaklava), black clothes, glove and carrying a pistol.
The other man, European in appearance, had long hair, to his shoulders, which was very dark and straight. He was also dressed in black and was carrying a knife.
The post office manager was in a state of shock following the robbery, but otherwise unharmed.
The hold-up follows an attempted robbery early last Friday, 23 December, at the Grosse-Pierre post office in Morges. A 47-year-old woman arriving for work was surprised by two men, reportedly 170 cm tall, dressed in dark clothes, one carrying a knife. Her cries frightened them off and a witness called 117 to alert police.
Anyone with information about either crime is asked to phone Vaud police at 021 644 4444.
Verbier avalanche slightly injures 2 in family of 4
An avalanche caught a family of four skiing off piste near Verbier Monday 26 December at 12:15. The group managed to get out from under the avalanche, which was 10 metres wide and 150m long. The 16-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy both suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital in Sion to be checked.
The avalanche was triggered at Mont Gelé, at about 2,900 m.
Icy roads behind crashes
A 25-year-old woman from the Avenches region whose car skidded on the road near Salavaux and Avenches at 10:25 Tuesday morning is in serious condition after her car crossed the line and hit another car head on. The 41-year-old man driving the other car sustained lighter injuries and was hospitalized in Fribourg.
A crash caused by ice on the road was responsible for closing the Col de Pillon near Gsteig Tuesday morning, a main route to the Gstaad area from Lake Geneva.
Fires in Geneva and Morges send several to hospital
Thirteen people, including a year-old child, were injured, four of them seriously, after a fire broke out on the ground floor of a three-storey centre for asylum seekers in Geneva, Tattes, 1 chemin de Poussy in Vernier. Four are in serious condition, two from injuries sustained after they jumped out of second-floor windows and two others for burns and smoke inhalation, say Geneva police.
Sixty people were evacuated from the building.
The fire department received scores of calls Monday afternoon at 15:22 and the fire, which spread to the first floor, was brought under control by 16:15.
In Morges, canton Vaud, cigarettes thrown into the garbage are suspected of being the cause of a fire in a third-storey apartment in an 11-storey building at chemin de la Grosse-Pierre 9 early Friday morning 23 December. Two tenants ages 20 and 21 were hospitalized, as well as their neighbour, an 85-year-old woman, for smoke inhalation. The fire was brought under control by 03:15.
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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old Italian man who lived in Italy died 13 December in hospital in Sion after sustaining critical injuries in an avalanche at Monte Moro near Saas Almagell Sunday 11 December at 14:30. Canton Valais police say that he was part of a group of six Italians who were ski touring in the area. They were on the east face of the Weisstor when the avalanche was triggered and he was buried under 130cm of snow. His fellow skiers were able to locate him and with the help of a rescue team to dig him out.
He was taken to the hospital in Visp and later transferred to Sion.
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LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND – A six-year-old Spanish child who was with a ski instructor on the slopes in Saas Fee was buried for 45 minutes by an avalanche in Saas Fee Wednesday afternoon, and died Thursday during the night at the Chuv University Hospitals in Lausanne, say canton Valais police.
The child’s teacher was only partially buried. She was found quickly and is in good condition.
The two were on a groomed slope at 2,900 metres, according to police.
Rescue workers were unable to use helicopters due to poor weather conditions. The avalanche, 100 metres wide and 300 metres long, appears to have occurred naturally, without anyone triggering it, and police are urging caution, with a poor snow base and winds creating hazardous conditions in some mountain areas.
Area where the fifth Swiss avalanche victim was found 2 months after accident, near St Bernard tunnel
SION, SWITZERLAND – The body has been found of a 42-year-old French woman, missing since a 26 March avalanche near the St Bernard tunnel caught a dozen ski tourers from Cluses, across the border in France. Four people died, seven were injured and one was missing in the avalanche that was 40 metres wide and 300 metres long, at 2,000m altitude.
It was one of the worst avalanches in terms of deaths and injuries in a winter that saw several in the Alps.
Police and partners have regularly checked the area since the avalanche. Her body was found under two metres of snow at the bottom of the couloir. She was not using an avalanche detector; it was found in her backpack.
Avalanche on Crans-Montana piste in Randogne, Col du Pochet, 8 April
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Police in Valais say no skiers were caught by the 200-metre long avalanche that ran down a groomed ski slope in the resort of Crans-Montana Friday mornng 8 April.
The avalanche, 30 metres wide, was apparently triggered by two skiers on the slope at 11:45, near the Col du Pochet.
No victims found after three hour search
A rescue operation to look for people trapped by the avalanche was immediately organized, but it was called off at 14:30 when it was determined that there were no victims.
The rescue team included two helicopters, a doctor, two mountain guides, 2 search dogs and their handlers, 15 patrollers from the ski lifts.
The avalanche occurred at about 2,500 metres and the depth of the avalanches was 80 cm.
Swiss avalanche bulletins warns wet avalanche risk “escalates swiftly”
The Swiss avalanche bulletin for 8 April and for the weekend notes that the risk of wet avalanches escalates swiftly during the day, with temperatures at 2,000 metres now 12C.
Warm sunny weather in increasing risk of wet avalanches in Valais: Crans-Montana, 8 April
Crans-Montana has posted a notice that given the skiing conditions only Violette will be open starting Monday 11 April, and only from 08:00-12:00 to maintain the snow as long as possible.
Click on images to view larger. Photos: Valais Police
Helicopter view of the "gigantic" avalanche near Ayer, canton Valalis, that left 3 dead 1 April.
Update 2 April Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A “gigantic” avalanche struck a group of nine people from Friedrichshafen, Germany Friday 1 April at 09:45 in canton Valais.
They were ski-touring in the region of the Montagne de Nava, near Ayer in the Val d’Anniviers.
Two people were killed and two others were sent to hospital. One of those hospitalized in Sion died later Friday from injuries.
Police Saturday morning said the victims have been identified. The three who died were men, ages 56, 48 and 35. Two of those who died were Austrian and one was German.
Two people were not hit by the avalanche, while three others who were swept by it managed to escape without injury.
The avalanche, at 2,500 metres altitude, was 500 metres wide and 500 metres long. The rescue team characterized it as “gigantic”, and it set off another avalanche on a facing slope that was 100 metres long and 100m wide.
Avalanche area, Ayers, Valais, Switzerland 1 April 2011
The avalanche occurred at 2,500 metres.
The group was traveling without a guide.
Photos: Valais Police
Search called off: risk too high for rescuers
Bourg St Pierre rescue teams search after avalanche that left 4 dead, 1 missing and 5 injured
Avalanche, Bourg-St-Pierre, 27 March 2011
Update 4, Monday 28 March Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) -The one person missing and presumed buried under a massive amount of snow in Saturday’s Valais avalanche is a 44-year-old French woman.
The last of four people to have died is a 49-year-old woman who was taken to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, where she died from her injuries.
Police formally identified the two women Monday morning 28 March.
Valais police Saturday evening released details of the avalanche that caught 10 people Saturday near the St Bernard tunnel.
Sunday morning at 07:00 an Air Glacier helicopter mined the avalanche area in order to secure it and stop further avalanches.
Authorities have decided to suspend the search for the woman who is missing, saying the risk is too high for rescue workers. The avalanche cone’s snow depth is 20 metres: see photos here, released by Valais police Sunday evening (click on images to view larger).
Four people died and five others are in hospital, three of them in critical condition, in addition to the one person missing.
A group of 11 French people from nearby Cluses was caught by an avalanche shortly after noon Saturday 26 March at about 2,000 metres. They were on the western slopes of the Croix de Tsousse, not far from the Grand St Bernard tunnel.
Avalanche, Bourg-St-Pierre, 27 March 2011
The avalanche was 40 metres wide and 300 metres long.
Another person escaped the avalanche and alerted emergency teams.
Nine members of the group had snowshoes and two were using touring skis. All were equipped with avalanche detectors. They did not have a guide with them.
Police say they were not travelling the high route between Zermatt and Chamonix, as was earlier reported.
The rescue team included: 10 helicopters from Air Glaciers and Air Zermatt, 3 ambulances, 20 lifesaving guides, 8 avalanche dog drivers, 9 doctors, cantonal police.
No signals were picked up from the missing victim’s avalanche detector.
Three people whose bodies were recovered at the scene of the accident were two women, ages 58 and 64, and a man age 64.
The five who are injured are are 62-year-old woman and four men, ages 39, 45, 54 and 55.
Avalanche, Bourg-St-Pierre, 27 March 2011
Update 2 19:15 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eleven people were caught by an avalanche early Saturday afternoon 26 March. Three people have died and one is missing. Five others who were injured were taken to hospitals in Martigny and Sion while one person, critically injured, was flown to the Chuv university hospitals in Lausanne, Valais police told Swiss public radio. One member of the group, who escaped, was able to give the alarm.
The group of French people was ski touring just above the Toules dam near the St Bernard tunnel that links Switzerland and Italy. The avalanche occurred near the Croix de Tsousse summit. The group appears to have been taking a popular high route between Chamonix and Zermatt.
The avalanche was close to the St Bernard tunnel.
Police say anyone who is affected by the accident can contact them at +0041 27 326 56 56.
TSR news video (can be viewed only in Switzerland)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A German who was ski-touring in Zermatt lost his life Sunday. Elsewhere in the Lake Geneva region there were a number of serious accidents, from fires to road crashes.
The 52-year-old German was part of a group of five people who had been at the mountain hut Brittania. They were heading towards the Monta Rose hut, having crossed the Adler pass, and were below the second hut when the man was caught by an avalanche at 20:40 His fellow skiers immediately raised the alert and police, a medical team and Air Zermatt were sent to the rescue. His body was found under 2.2 metres of snow.
Road accident closed lake road near Gland Sunday
The lake road (N1) was closed to traffic Sunday afternoon 20 March for two hours following an accident at 15:10 at the Messerin intersection between Prangins and Gland.
An 18-year-old driver was hit by a car driven by a 23-year-old woman who failed to yield to the first driver. Both were injured, with the first driver trapped in his car. They were taken to hospital via ambulance. Police report that their lives are not in danger.
Fire in the centre of Sierre, another in Vaud
Fire Saturday morning in Sierre, Valais
Forty firefighters from Cossonay in canton Vaud were called to Dizy after a fire started in the kitchen of a village house Saturday at 09:00. Two men in their 70s were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
A fire in the centre of Sierre, on the rue Glarey, caused serious damage and sent one person to hospital with burns to the hands. The fire started for reasons that have not been determined, at 07:00 Friday 19 March. Six residents of the building were evacuated.
Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The skier who was killed 2 February in an avalanche in Crans-Montana has been formally identified by DNA tests, police in Valais announced Friday: a 40-year-old Canadian, resident in Valais.
Surefoot staff in Verbier have confirmed to GenevaLunch that the skier was Scott Mann, manager of the ski boot specialty shop in Verbier. He was a popular, well-known and very experienced off-piste skier who knew the area well and who had often skied around Mont Bonvin, where he lost his life Wednesday.
The avalanche was 50 metres wide and 700m long, on a very steep run.
One of his friends told GenevaLunch “Scott had skied that face countless times and it is known to be his mountain because of this. Because the conditions have been really poor in terms of snow this year, i think everyone was just waiting for a dump of the good stuff, and that is why he would have decided to go up there and take the risk because it was the first chance for a good off piste ski and this was his favourite face to ski in deep pow. . .He was a good skier and he knew what he was doing and the risk he would be taking to go up there.”
Surefoot also has a shop in Crans-Montana, which Mann had managed, and he was well known in the resort as well.
American died Friday on Zermatt slopes
The deadly avalanche, at 3,000 metres, was 50m wide and 700m long
Updae 2 March Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A man who was skiing in a remote and very steep off-piste area that is part of the Crans-Montana ski region lost his life Tuesday afternoon 1 March in an avalanche.
Police in canton Valais Tuesday evening confirmed his death, but would not provide details while contacting next of kin, but GenevaLunch has been contacted by friends of his, and he is reportedly an English-speaking Swiss resident.
The man was with a woman and the pair had gone to an area called Faverges, near the Petit Bonvin and the smaller resort of Aminona, when he was caught by the avalanche, which was 50 metres wide and 700 metres long, at 3,000 metres.
She was safe and was able to alert authorities: the man was pulled alive from the avalanche but died soon after being admitted to hospital in Sion.
Friday death on resort’s groomed slopes remains unexplained
A man died Friday 25 February in Crans-Montana, on groomed slopes, after taking a fall. He was not wearing a helmet, but it is unclear, Valais police told GenevaLunch Tuesday evening, if the fall was the result of a health problem or an accident. Police are seeking witnesses to the incident: +41 27 027 326 5656.
Zermatt death likely due to poor visibility
A 69-year-old American man died Friday 25 February while skiing with his wife in Zermatt. The two were in the Rothorn area and decided to head over to the Blauherd ski area because of poor weather conditions. En route, the woman lost sight of her husband, so she stopped to wait for him. When he didn’t join her she returned to Zermatt and immediately alerted lift operators, who contacted a patrol in the area. Their search for the man was unsuccessful and an emergency search team was called in.
The man’s body was found at 20:40, shortly after the Kumme/Blauherd split on the trail. He had left the trail, most likely due to poor visibility due to fog and snow, and he fell into the rocks.
Fiesch skier dies 2 metres off the piste
Woman dies after Champéry fall, man in Engadine killed by stalactite, ski trekker caught by avalanche
Champery is one of 12 ski resorts that are part of the Portes du Soleil ski region on the Swiss-French border in canton Valais
Update 21:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The number of accidents on mountains in the Swiss and French Alps is climbing, with icy slopes and warmer conditions possibly playing a role. This weekend in Switzerland four people lost their lives doing mountain sports: all were Swiss with alpine sports experience.
Monday 7 February a Bern man, 50, died in Fiesch, in the Goms/Conches valley in upper canton Valais, for reasons that are not clear, say police. He was skiing along the edge of the Obere Galvera run at 2,150m altitude when he fell and ended up off-piste, 2m from the edge of the run, where he died.
No further details are available except that he was wearing a helmet. Police have opened an investigation.
A 65-year-old woman from canton Vaud died in hospital after being flown to the Chuv, Vaud university hospitals, in Lausanne Sunday night 6 February following a fall while skiing in Champéry.
The accident occurred on the Pas de Chavanette in Champéry, a 1 km run with a vertical drop of 331 metres, well known for its moguls.
The run was closed to the public but the woman, her son and his female companion slipped under the nets to go down the run.
Pas de Chavanette's steep and rocky stretch: the slope is sometimes called an orange run - more difficult than normal black runs (photo 2007, Ale de Vries / Wikipedia)
The older woman fell and slid several dozen metres, say police. The younger woman also slipped and suffered a broken collarbone. She was hospitalized in Monthey.
Police have opened an investigation into the accident.
Man hit by falling ice after ice-wall climbing
An ice climber died in a freak accident in canton Graubuenden, in the Engadine region, when a stalactite fell on him. The man was sorting out his gear 30 metres below the giant icicle when it detached and pinned him to the ground.
The accident occurred Saturday afternoon, about 14:00, near Sils, at the entrance to Vallon du Fextal. The man had been climbing with two companions. He died from his injuries the following day.
Uri man dies; cell phones didn’t work in mountainous area
A 39-yar-old man died in canton Uri after he and a friend were caught by an avalanche as they came down from the Vorder Schloss near Attinghaussen. He was wearing an avalanche alert system that allowed his friend to find him and partially dig him out.
The friend was unable to call for help because their cell phones couldn’t pick up a signal in the mountainous area. He left his friend behind after failing to revive him, to call for help.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Glarus now say the person who died in an avalanche on the Grossen Kaerpf near Elm Sunday was a 47-year-old resident of Zurich.
Two other people were injured: a 24-year-old from St Gallen who is in serious condition with upper body fractures and a 36-year-old from Liechtenstein who sustained foot injuries and was hospitalized briefly.
The three were part of several groups who were ski touring with blue skies and fine weather, but rising temperatures that can raise the risk of avalanches.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four skiers were killed and one person rescued when the group was struck by an avalanche in the Haute Savoie France resort of Val d’Isère. The massive avalanche, which was set off at 2,800 metres and continued down to 2,100 metres, occurred in a popular off-piste area, the Grand Vallon. Local police noted that avalanches are always a risk this time of year, but the estimated risk was 3 on the scale of 5.
The group of seven set off the avalanche when they went through the area, according to local mountain rescue authorities. They wwere led by a ski guide who, with one other person, escaped the avalanche and alerted rescuers. The four who died were: two French people, one British person and one Swede. A fifth person was caught by the avalanche but was pulled out, according to Le Dauphine regional newspaper.
The members of the group were all equipped with avalanche detectors.
A Swedish skier died a year ago, 18 January 2010, in the same area, when an avalanche was set off.
Second student in Bern hospital with head injuries after hiking group caught near Kandersteg
Oeschinensee (photo, Roland Zumbuehl, Picswiss)
Update 18:23 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Henry Lo, who would have graduated from university in 2011, was killed when his group of nine university students hiking near Kandersteg in the Swiss Alps was caught by an avalanche of snow, ice and rocks Sunday 6 June. The rock and snow slide was set off by a skier above them, who was also caught, but who managed to save himself and call for help. Another student, Amy Nolan, was taken to hospital in Bern where she had surgery for head injuries.
The two were part of a group of two Oxford University students and seven from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachussetts, who are spending a year studying at Exeter College in Oxford.
The skier who triggered the avalanche did not see the group hiking below him until after the accident and he immediately alerted authorities. Police questioned and released him but they are investigating the accident, a Bern cantonal police spokesperson told GenevaLunch.
The group was near the Frundenhuute hut, heading for the Oeschinen lake above Kandersteg when it was caught at about 2,200 metres altitude, the police spokesperson said. Lo’s body was quickly found and Nolan was airlifted to Bern. The others in the group were taken by helicopter to the nearby Oeschinen Hotel at a little over 1,500 metres, where they stayed overnight before leaving Switzerland to return to the UK.
Link to Williams College, president’s letter about the accident
Chamonix, France (GenevaLunch) - The body has been found of a Swiss climber who has been missing since a massive avalanche caught him and seven others in 2008 on Mont Blanc de Tacul in the French Alps. Four Germans, three Swiss and an Australian were swept away by the avalanche that struck at 03:00 as they were climbing the much-frequented route. Forty-seven climbers in all were heading up Mt Blanc’s north face when a serac gave way and in unusual near silence slid down, causing a slab avalanche. Fifteen of the group were caught by it, including the eight who disappeared.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A woman from Versonnex, Pays de Gex in France, age 69, died Monday 19 April while climbing the Salève near Geneva, and her 71-year-old mountain-climbing companion is hospitalized with fractures, the Tribune de Geneve reports. The two experienced climbers were roped together, but for reasons that are not yet clear the woman fell 50 metres.
A 34-year-old British woman who lives in France was killed Sunday near Zermatt when she was caught by an avalanche. She was part of a group of four people who were ski touring with a guide when the avalanche struck.
An avalanche on Boulder mountain near Revelstoke, British Colombia in Canada has killed three people and injured 17 but several others are missing and a search is underway, say the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The avalanche occurred during the Big Iron Shootout snowmobile contest, an annual event that has sparked controversy and raised tensions with local residents in the four years it has been running, partly because of safety concerns.
Links to other sites: CBC, CNN, RCMP, Vancouver Sun
The death toll has now risen to 160 persons killed by a series of avalanches that swept over a busy road in the north of Afghanistan Monday. Officials say they have now dug 160 bodies out of the snow. Nearly 90 people are reported to be injured, and rescuers have freed more than 2,600 people stranded when the road was blocked by the heavy snow. Rescue operations continue along the Salang Pass, with military helicopters dropping food packages to people who are still unable to get out.
A massive avalanche in Salang, a nearly 4,000 metre pass connecting Kabul and the north of Afghanistan, has killed at least 15 and possibly up to 30, with some 70 people reported by the Defense Ministry to be injured. Official and local reports vary widely. The road along the pass is heavily traveled and 1,500 people stranded by the avalanche have been rescued despite additional smaller avalanches and heavy snow, which have hampered rescue operations.
Links to other sites: News.com.au, Australia, MSNBC
Rescuers say finding a healthy survivor who had been under an avalanche for 17 hours is a rare experience. Swiss media flocked to the bedside of Cédric Genoud in Sion, where he is being observed for two days.
Update 09:31 Sion, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Cédric Genoud, the 21-year-old who survived 17 hours under an avalanche and was rescued Sunday near Evolène, recounts his ordeal in a lengthy interview on TSR and in the Tribune de Genève.
The EPFL student says he decided to ski off-piste for the first time without the equipment for it, and when he was caught by an avalanche the only thing he was able to do was move his head and make a small air pocket with his helmet, a move that saved him.
He remained conscious during the night, in part because the pain in one leg that was twisted kept him awake – and for the first time in his life he prayed, and then he began to hope that animals would smell and find him. He ate snow to keep from being dehydrated. But he never gave up hope or let go of his desire to live.
Sion, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A 21-year-old Vaud man had the “extraordinary” chance to survive 17 hours after he was trapped by an avalanche near Evolene, say Valais police. He was conscious and suffered only mild hypothermia when he was found.
He was caught Saturday while skiing off-piste, but police point out that he was only 50cm under the surface, and a small amount of air passed through to the space he was able to free in front of his face. His family alerted police at 16:30 when he didn’t return, and a search team found an avalanche 50 metres wide and 150m long with a skier’s tracks that suddenly ran out under the avalanche, in the pas d’Arpilles area. They had to call off the search an hour after midnight, for safety reasons, then started again at dawn.
An Air Glacier helicopter flying over the avalanche as part of the search noticed that the snow appeared to be moving in one area, and searchers were able to dig him out there.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Three bodies were found Tuesday 5 July shortly before noon by a search team hunting for three people still missing following two avalanches Sunday morning in the Dietigtal region of the Bernese Oberland. Four people had already died from the avalanches, bringing the death toll to seven.
The three individuals, two men and a woman, were found in the cone (bottom) of the avalanche. Sixty people were involved in this morning’s search, mainly from the Secours Alpin Suisse Bern unit and the Swiss army’s mountain research team.
Avalanche rescue operation Sunday, Diemtigtal, canton Bern, Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Bern say that a fourth person rescued from an avalanche in the Bernese Oberland region has died, and three are now listed as missing. The accident took place Sunday morning 3 January in an area not generally considered to be a high risk zone. A first person went missing when a ski touring group was caught by the avalanche and shortly after rescuers arrived a second avalanche hit the area, burying several others, including one of the Rega helicopter service doctors, who died later in hospital.
TSR reports Monday morning that the three skiers suspected of setting off the 27 December avalanche that rolled over a groomed slope in Anzeres have been arrested. Valais police have not yet made an official announcement.
Background story, Bern avalanche, GenevaLunch
Background story, Anzeres avalanche, GenevaLunch
Sion, canton Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - An avalanche that appears to have been set off by three unknown off-piste skiers in Anzères, Valais Sunday swept down a groomed slope and sent one slightly injured skier to the hospital. The accident is prompting questions in the Swiss media about how safe groomed slopes really are, if off-piste skiers are nearby. Valais police are asking the three skiers to turn themselves in. Tel: 027 326 5656.
Two skiers on the groomed slope were carried off by the avalanche at Ayent, which measured 200 metres wide by 400 metres long.
Bern / Chur, Graubuenden, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two guides who have been on trial for their part in the deaths of six soldiers during a military mountain training expedition on the Jungfrau have been acquitted. They were on trial in a Swiss military court for involuntary manslaughter and for not observing military regulations.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Two military tribunals that have been investigating separate accidents which killed six soldiers on the Jungfrau in July 2007 and five soldiers in the Kander river in June 2008 have pressed charges. The cases against three men, one a commanding officer and the other two mountain guides who were hired to work with the army, go to court in Chur in November 2009. The men charged risk up to three years in prison, according to news agency ATS.
Graubuenden, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – Three climbers died in a 400-metre fall Saturday when the rope holding them together gave way. Investigators believe a snow plate gave way under their weight when they were at 3,750m altitude. The three, a 35-year-old couple from Zurich and a 41-year-old man from St Gallen, were on the Piz Palue after spending the night at the Diavolezza hut.
The deaths bring to 23 the number of people who died during the 2008-2009 winter season in the Swiss Alps, just under the average of 25, according to TSR.
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A woman is missing and a man was injured in an avalanche, with 25 people rescued during Monday night after two ski touring groups with guides were struck by an avalanche. One group of French skiers and another of Austrians were going from Argentière, France, near the Col de la Forclaz to Champex, Valais, Switzerland. Towards 17:00 two people, an Austrian man and a 30-year-old French woman, were caught by the avalanche.
