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.
Nendaz, Valais (GenevaLunch) – Police in canton Valais have found a third body from the 11 February avalanche near the Cleuson dam, under one and a half metres of snow and ice, thanks to a search dog.
Valloires, France (Dauphine Libere, Fre) – Four people have died and two others were injured but pulled to safety when a large avalanche caught a local school group that was skiing near Valloires (Les Arcs) in France, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland in the French Alps.
Ecône, Valais, Switzerland () – One of the four seminary students who escaped the avalanche that killed three of their friends 11 February, has recounted the experience in a letter (in French) to family and friends that makes gripping reading. It was published on the Catholic blog E-Deo.
Fresh snow, Valais, Switzerland 12 February 2009
Updated 21:15 Lake Geneva area, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Snow fell steadily throughout all of western Switzerland, including Geneva, early 12 February. Traffic was clogged throughout the Lake Geneva region, and in much of the area the secondary roads were closed. Trains from Chatelard in Switzerland towards Mont Blanc (Montroc-la-Planet) in France have been stopped until 15 February due to the danger of avalanches.
Sion, Valais (Le Nouvelliste/ats, Fre) – A group of seven French people touring on snowshoes near the Cleuson dam lake, where they walked from Siviez, were caught Wednesday 11 February by an avalanche at 13:20.
Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The high winds and fresh snow from 9 and 10 February have created a level 4 (high danger) avalanche situation along the northern flank of the Rhone in the Vaud and Valais Alps. With Geneva and much of France on school holidays this week the resorts are busy.
Morges students take to the lake, 21 January 2009
Lake Geneva region, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - This is one of the best years in recent memory for skiers, with good snowfalls and enough cold weather to keep the snow base high. Despite this, some local schools, such as the International School of Geneva, are having to postpone their ski days.
Verbier, Switzerland (Le Nouvelliste) – A 67-year-old German woman from Geneva is in serious condition in the Sion, Valais hospital after she was caught by an avalanche Sunday. She was skiing off-piste in the Mont Fort area above Verbier, as part of a class led by a ski instructor, when the avalanche buried her under 2.5 metres of snow.
Updated 27 November, 07:20 Diablerets, Vaud, Switzerland (RSR, Fre) – Police in Vaud say one person is missing in an avalanche at the glacier du Dars, Diablerets, Wednesday morning, in an area where access is difficult and rescue workers had to stop searching during the night. A group of three snowboarders appears to have set off the avalanche and only two of them made it to safety.
Bern, Switzerland (RSR, Fre) – The Swiss Army confirmed Friday morning that an avalanche took place on the section of the Jungfrau where six soldiers were killed earlier in July. It refused, however, to conclude at this stage of the investigation that the avalanche was directly responsible for the deaths of the roped climbing team.
