4 caught, 2 die in Swiss Avalacnche

Thursday, 5 January 2012

Four ski mountaineers from Vorarlberg were killed on Tuesday afternoon at 2,800 meters altitude in the Swiss canton of Grisons. The team were climbing the Juferhorn when they were hit by a slab avalanche.

The group consisted of five experienced ski tourers. However, one 52 year old woman turned back on the way to the summit as she was not feeling well. Her husband (52),son (23),and two family friends were hit shortly afterwards by the avalanche.

The 23 year old male was the first to emerge from the snow. He carried out a transceiver search and found one other team member unharmed before alterting the rescue services.

The rescue workers located the two missing people in the debris.The husband and wife were buried 100 and 120cm deep respectively. The male was already dead, and his wife died in hospital that night.

The accident occurred on an avalanche risk of 3/5. The slope was between 35 and 40 degrees. Aspect was NE and altitude was 2700m.