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Study | SLF - How has the number of avalanche victims changed over the last 80 years?

Unsecured terrain has become more relevant than secured terrain in recent decades

by SLF • 11/02/2016
Avalanche victims in the Alpine region, divided into victims in secured areas (dark blue bars) and in open terrain (light blue bars), for the 47 years 1969/70 to 2015/16. The statistics include all victims registered in the Alps in France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. The lines show the average over 15 years.

Avalanche victims in the Alpine region, divided into victims in secured areas (dark blue bars) and in open terrain (light blue bars), for the 47 years 1969/70 to 2015/16. The statistics include all victims registered in the Alps in France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. The lines show the average over 15 years.

SLF

Avalanche victims in the Alpine region, divided into victims in secured areas (dark blue bars) and in open terrain (light blue bars), for the 47 years 1969/70 to 2015/16. The statistics include all victims registered in the Alps in France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia. The lines show the average over 15 years.

SLF
An analysis of the data on avalanche victims in Switzerland shows: The number of victims in secured terrain has decreased significantly over the last 80 years. In open terrain, it fell after a peak in the 1980s and has remained relatively constant since then - despite more snow sports enthusiasts off-piste.

Off-piste snow sports are booming. Many ski tourers and freeriders will be out and about again next winter. Are there therefore more and more avalanche victims? In order to answer this question, the SLF analyzed the fatal avalanche accidents, all of which have been archived in the institute's avalanche database since 1936.

Significantly fewer victims in secured terrain

In the 80 years since 1936/37, almost 2,000 people have died in more than 1,000 avalanches in the Swiss Alps and the Jura. In secured areas - roads and railroad tracks, settlements and ski slopes - the number of victims has fallen significantly in recent decades. Whereas at the end of the 1940s an average of 15 people per year died in avalanches, in 2010 the figure was less than 1 person per year. Most of these avalanches were spontaneous, and almost half of the victims on traffic routes and ski slopes were occupational accidents. Large investments in avalanche barriers, better hazard maps, successful closures, evacuations or artificial avalanche triggering are likely to have contributed significantly to the fact that far fewer people die in avalanches in secured areas today than in the past.

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In secured areas, e.g. roads, the number of avalanche victims has fallen significantly over the last 80 years.

In protected areas, e.g. roads, the number of avalanche victims has fallen significantly over the last 80 years.

Rouven Sturny, SLF

In protected areas, e.g. roads, the number of avalanche victims has fallen significantly over the last 80 years.

Rouven Sturny, SLF

Fewer avalanche fatalities despite more snow sports enthusiasts off-piste

An entirely different picture emerges when the number of avalanche victims in open terrain away from residential areas, traffic routes or pistes is examined. Over the last 80 years, accidents in open terrain have almost always involved people who were skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing or off-piste skiing in their free time at the time of the accident. In the vast majority of cases, the victims triggered the avalanches themselves. While the 15-year average at the beginning of the 1950s was still less than ten victims per year in some cases, it rose sharply in the 1960s and 1970s, reaching a sad record of almost 27 avalanche victims per year in the 1980s. The sharp rise in the number of victims in open terrain occurred during a phase in which winter tourism was developing strongly, the construction of ski resorts was booming and the mobility of the population was increasing. Although the number of recreational skiers away from the secured areas continued to increase, the number of victims fell in the 1990s (an average of 20 victims per year in Switzerland). Increased prevention work (e.g. avalanche courses for SAC and J+S tour guides), better information about the avalanche situation and the increasingly widespread use of avalanche emergency equipment (avalanche transceivers, probes, shovels) are likely to have contributed to these positive figures.

Similar trends in other Alpine countries

Avalanche accident statistics have been available for all Alpine countries since 1970. On average, 100 people died in avalanches in the Alpine region every year, although the figures also fluctuate greatly each year. The number of victims in the various countries was often similar: in Switzerland and its neighboring countries, there were often particularly many (or particularly few) avalanche deaths in the same years. Long-term trends are also very similar to those in Switzerland: in secured terrain, the number of victims decreased markedly, while in open terrain it fell after a peak in the 1980s and has remained relatively constant since then. Increased avalanche prevention and information therefore also seems to be bearing fruit in the other Alpine countries.

Annual number of avalanche victims in secured areas during the 80 years from 1936/37 to 2015/16 (bars). The line shows the consecutive mean value over 15 years.

Annual number of avalanche victims in secured areas during the 80 years from 1936/37 to 2015/16 (bars). The line shows the continuous average over 15 years.

SLF

Annual number of avalanche victims in secured areas during the 80 years from 1936/37 to 2015/16 (bars). The line shows the continuous average over 15 years.

SLF

Avoiding accidents

In recent decades, most avalanche accidents have involved recreational athletes away from the secured areas. As every avalanche accident can have serious consequences for those involved, the top priority is to avoid accidents wherever possible. Recreational athletes who want to go off-piste should therefore train themselves to learn the correct off-piste behavior and recognize danger spots with the help of avalanche knowledge, inform themselves about the current avalanche danger and always have the avalanche emergency equipment with them, i.e. at least an avalanche transceiver, shovel and a helmet.

The text is by Frank Techel, SLF.

Editor's note: the complete study, produced in cooperation with the warning services of other Alpine countries, is available here as a pdf: Techel et al, 2016: Avalanche fatalities in the European Alps: long-term trends and statistics

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