J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by admin

Dave Mac wrote:

davidof wrote:... A 100x50x50cm slab may contain a 750 tonnes of snow, ...

I respectfully question the snow density stated.

Dave, I suspect David means 100 metres by 50 metres x50cm - or 2500 cubic metres. 8)

Tony_H wrote:I really get annoyed when I see people skiing in hats with fake red hair, court jesters hats, or something stupid like a big fluffy bobble like my (Gran)Dad

EFA, no charge. 8)

Various sources are now reporting the recovery of 3 further fatalities from the Diemtig valley, bringing the total toll for that incident to 7.

No other people had been reported missing.

From The Guardian :-

The victims were in a group of off-piste skiers hit by an avalanche shortly before midday on Sunday, burying two. A second avalanche, about half an hour later, hit the rescue party.

An emergency operation involving eight helicopters from the Swiss air rescue service and 100 rescuers was able to pull nine people from the snow. One man was already dead, and three others died in hospital.

The earlier victims were identified as a German and three Swiss, one of whom was a rescue doctor who had flown in to help.

Rescuers had been unable to search for the remaining skiers yesterday because fog and snow prevented safe access to the area by air or on foot.

Experts had held out little hope the missing three people would be found alive. It was the biggest avalanche death toll in Switzerland since February 1999, when two snow slides swept away several chalets in the canton of Valais, killing 12 people.

Be careful out there...

...heavy snowfall in recent days have prompted officials to warn of a heightened avalanche risk in the Swiss Alps.

geno68 wrote:If you are interested i add some ski porn to this thread so you can see I am not making it up.

Yes please! 8) Great write-up - thank you.

Just started chucking it down here - East Sussex just South of the Kent border. Rainfall radar showing a queue of clouds behind this one.

According to this (on the French version of the website), they've got no leccy! 8)

http://www.isola2000.com/hiver/fr/detail-actus-accueil.aspx?Id=23

If you have skins you'll be fine... :D

WWF Warn "Ski Area Plans Threaten Europe's Last Untouched Forests"

The WWF has published a lengthy document here detailing their belief that plans for new skiing areas in the region around the Carpathian Mountains and the Balkans threaten to harm major protected areas that house some of Europe's last remaining untouched wilderness.

The document highlights proposed new ski areas and existing resort ski areas expansions in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Ukraine.

The thrust of the document is that environmental protection laws in place are either too weak or side-stepped anyway in the drive for commercial profits,

"In theory, potential conflicts between nature conservation and development – including for ski tourism – should be mediated by procedures such as Environmental Impact Assessments and the European Union's Article 6 of the Habitats Directive, which provide a system for evaluating potential impacts on nature and identifying solutions and measures to mitigate negative impacts. In practice, however, these safeguards are of limited effect, and in the face of intense pressure from economic and political forces, nature conservation is often given short shrift." the report states.

The WWWF notes that the Carpathian Mountains are Europe's last great wilderness area – a bastion for large carnivores, with some two-thirds of the continent's populations of brown bears, wolves and lynx. They are also home to the greatest remaining reserves of old growth forests outside of Russia.

"It is striking how little climate change and sustainability appear to be entering calculations for many of the new ski areas," said Andreas Beckman, Director of WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme. "Already, rising temperatures and decreased precipitation and snow cover is causing problems for many facilities, with some poor recent ski seasons."

Erika Stanciu, WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, Forest and Protected Areas Team Leader highlighted existing ski areas she believes have broken international environmental protection legislation, such as Bansko in Bulgaria.

"We can all avoid ski areas that do not comply with basic criteria for environmental safeguards and legislation", she said. "For example, Bansko, in the heart of Pirin National Park in Bulgaria, is a popular ski destination that has become infamous for being the first of a series of illegal ski developments in Bulgarian protected areas. Half of the ski runs in Bansko have no environmental permits, while those ski runs which do have permits have violated each requirement of the Environmental Impact Assessment decision. These violations include for example the width of ski runs - instead of the permitted 30m they actually are 60 to 100m wide. The European Commission has initiated penalty procedures against Bulgaria because of violations of environmental law in the case of Bansko."

Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc

bandit wrote:Admin, is that area still classified as a Nature Reserve?

I believe so... although it's never been clear to me whether the reserve includes the combe itself or just covers the forest.

More information in the PisteHors forum here - http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/431/

It appears that the victims had deployed their ABS; the depth of the debris is chilling. Ghastly.