At 1130 today in Chandolin, one of our neighbouring villages, two teen's from Geneva were caught in a avalanche. One was able to free himself from the snow while the other was recovered with serious injury by a rescue team from a metre of snow. The slide occurred near the Illhorn poma lift on what's a fairly popular slope a few metres from the piste and frequently skied. Neither teenager was equipped with an avalanche transceiver and the rescue response included two helicopters from Air Glaciers and 7 dog handlers.
We were snow shoeing a couple of km down the valley on slopes the same aspect but curtailed our route as my slope assessment made me uneasy about our planned route.
Chandolin Avalanche
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a variety of things, a large slope where our line would have taken us on a traverse line on about 20' with a large expanse of steeper slopes above us, some weakly bonded layers in the snow pack I'd noticed when I'd been clearing snow on the drive, wind transport events in the last few day, all this we knew before setting out of course, but also positive air temperatures and solar warming.
Mostly, I didn't need to go there and a local restaurant were offering free vin chaud to mark opening of the season and that appeared the more prudent choice.
We were just over in Vercorin and you can see it from there, that photo' doesn't quite show how steep that bit is actually.
It also might be they weren't skiing it as such, it's possible they'd fallen off the drag lift and were trying to down, that's pure speculation of course but it's not unusual just there.
The slide area must be bigger than it looks. From the image, it looks quite compact, but if it is visible across the valley it must be pretty substantial.
Yes, I recall that particular drag lift having some rather interesting sections!
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Started by Ise in Avalanche Safety 21-Dec-2008 - 24 Replies
Ise posted Dec-2008
Ise
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
Additionally, the local police are reporting the avalanche at 300m long and 20m wide and that the second casualty was recovered at 1300 and airlifted to hospital.
and there's a photo from the local police
http://www.romandie.com/valais/pdf/policevs_Avalanche_Chandolin.jpg
and there's a photo from the local police
http://www.romandie.com/valais/pdf/policevs_Avalanche_Chandolin.jpg
Edited 1 time. Last update at 21-Dec-2008
Bandit
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
:shock: :(
This is an awful start to the 1st full opening week of the season.
This is an awful start to the 1st full opening week of the season.
Admin
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
Let's be thankful it wasn't a worse outcome...
A timely reminder that "off piste" starts as soon as you pass the markers.
Be interested to know what clues made you doubt your route Ise?
Was astonished earlier this week to see two guys skinning up (in falling snow and poor visibility) at Le Chinaillon, at the foot of a steep slope on which numerous fresh slides were obvious - with large amounts of snow still in place on the exact same aspect.
ise wrote:a few metres from the piste
A timely reminder that "off piste" starts as soon as you pass the markers.
Be interested to know what clues made you doubt your route Ise?
Was astonished earlier this week to see two guys skinning up (in falling snow and poor visibility) at Le Chinaillon, at the foot of a steep slope on which numerous fresh slides were obvious - with large amounts of snow still in place on the exact same aspect.
The Admin Man
Ise
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
Admin wrote:
Be interested to know what clues made you doubt your route Ise?
a variety of things, a large slope where our line would have taken us on a traverse line on about 20' with a large expanse of steeper slopes above us, some weakly bonded layers in the snow pack I'd noticed when I'd been clearing snow on the drive, wind transport events in the last few day, all this we knew before setting out of course, but also positive air temperatures and solar warming.
Mostly, I didn't need to go there and a local restaurant were offering free vin chaud to mark opening of the season and that appeared the more prudent choice.
Bandit
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
Local newspaper www.lenouvelliste.ch carries this photo of the avalanche. This is the image from the local police by the look of it. Link supplied earlier by ise.
The article reports that they are two 15 year olds, and one is in a critical condition.
You can see the drag lift pylons at the top of the image.
The article reports that they are two 15 year olds, and one is in a critical condition.
You can see the drag lift pylons at the top of the image.
Edited 2 times. Last update at 22-Dec-2008
Ise
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
bandit wrote:
You can see the drag lift pylons at the top of the image.
We were just over in Vercorin and you can see it from there, that photo' doesn't quite show how steep that bit is actually.
It also might be they weren't skiing it as such, it's possible they'd fallen off the drag lift and were trying to down, that's pure speculation of course but it's not unusual just there.
Bandit
reply to 'Chandolin Avalanche' posted Dec-2008
ise wrote:bandit wrote:
You can see the drag lift pylons at the top of the image.
We were just over in Vercorin and you can see it from there, that photo' doesn't quite show how steep that bit is actually.
The slide area must be bigger than it looks. From the image, it looks quite compact, but if it is visible across the valley it must be pretty substantial.
Yes, I recall that particular drag lift having some rather interesting sections!
Topic last updated on 01-January-2009 at 22:06