Freeriding is a high-risk sport and one that is booming. This also applies to ski touring. The number of freeriders and ski tourers in avalanche-prone terrain has increased immensely in recent years, even if there are no reliable figures on the number of winter sports enthusiasts in open terrain. If there are more and more winter sports enthusiasts in avalanche terrain, there should actually be more and more avalanche accidents. However, this is precisely not the case in Switzerland, as a study by Stephan Harvey and Benjamin Zweifel (WSL, Snow and Avalanche Research Institute Davos) has shown.
More winter sports enthusiasts off-piste, same number of people buried - fewer deaths
It is particularly pleasing that although the absolute number of accidents has remained roughly the same, significantly fewer of those completely buried in avalanches are dying. Reasons for this include improved emergency equipment and the fact that more and more freeriders and ski tourers are well equipped and know how to use their equipment. In the 1990s, an average of 60% of all avalanche victims who were located by their companions using avalanche transceivers died. Today the figure is 30%, which is a significant improvement! The time it takes for buried victims to be located and rescued has also decreased significantly, which is particularly important as time is a decisive factor in whether a buried victim survives. Added to this is the generally improved (avalanche) training level of winter sports enthusiasts.
There are also encouraging trends in organized rescue:
The time it takes for organized rescue teams to arrive at the scene of an avalanche accident has become significantly faster. However, rescue teams are still often only able to recover the dead due to the longer lead time, although the proportion of those rescued alive by professionals is on the rise. The fact that almost all winter sports enthusiasts have cell phones with them and that network coverage has become better and better should have a positive effect here.
Fewer accidents with guided groups
Of the 1619 avalanche accidents investigated by the researchers, 278 involved groups that were led by a mountain guide or other leader. Whereas guided groups used to cause a particularly high number of avalanche accidents, the accident ratio between guided and unguided groups is now only 1:4, which is proof that guides have become increasingly professional and that risk check methods such as the reduction method are having an effect.
Freeriders vs. tourers?
The statistics do not allow any consistent conclusions to be drawn here: The proportion of freeriders / off-piste skiers in the total number of victims has been rising for years. In Switzerland, significantly more freeriders than ski tourers lost their lives in the winter of 2008, whereas in Austria, out of 29 avalanche fatalities, 19 were ski tourers and only 7 freeriders. This means that significantly more winter sports enthusiasts are still killed by avalanches on ski tours than when freeriding near the ski resorts.
