Stefan Widauer (28) is a semi-professional mountaineer. Mountain competitions, ski touring races and marathons are as much a part of his life as going to the office every day is for others. Last Sunday (31.1.2010), however, the mountaineer was caught in an avalanche on his local training ski tour. Equipped without emergency equipment (avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe), the athlete was nevertheless rescued from the avalanche cone after 50 minutes, buried 1.50 m deep. He only just survived the accident thanks to a small breathing cavity and a body temperature of just 27° C.
At a briefly convened interview at his bedside, the numerous media representatives pounced on the lucky survivor. The subsequent reporting put the athlete in a bad light, bordering on character assassination. "Irresponsibility", "selfishness", "recklessness", "lack of insight" and "bad role model" are just some of the accusations made in the relevant reports.
Since his statements from his hospital bed were taken out of context, Widauer has written a personal statement that reflects his view of things.
PG commentary
The reporting quite rightly mentions typically incorrect patterns of behavior, which are unfortunately still (too) common. And also fallacies such as "there's so little snow anyway, nothing can happen" or "I've been doing this tour every day for years, nothing has ever happened, so nothing will happen today". Such patterns of behavior quickly lead to misjudgments and these can end tragically.
A semi-professional athlete must be absolved of the accusation of often going on tours alone - after all, it is not every day that you find a training partner for several hours of endurance sports at the same level of fitness. If you decide to go on a tour alone, you have to be particularly experienced and act with particular caution - after all, there is no safety net and no buddy rescue. And let's be honest: we shouldn't let anyone tell us to do this tour when and only when and with whom. Those who consciously decide to go alone should do so.
You can find all the necessary information on mountain behavior and risk management in the Backcountry section of the magazine and in the new PowderGuide book Avalanches - Risk Check for Freeriders.
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