Lawinenunfall

A Mediterranean low brings a base to the south, while the north hopes that even small animals make dung.

Basti Haag is one of the best-known German-speaking extreme ski mountaineers. On September 23, 2012, Basti narrowly escaped one of the biggest avalanche accidents in Nepal. 30 people were buried in the avalanche - unfortunately 11 died. Basti was one of the first people at the scene of the accident. PG spoke to him about his experiences.

The WeatherBlog is currently located in an area of the world, somewhere between so-called Styria and so-called Carinthia, where there is only sometimes and even then only shaky, minute-by-minute free Internet. As the weather forecast by looking out of the window only works to a limited extent, we leave the current events, if they are relevant in terms of powder, to our colleague the Oracle.

All was still right with the world on Monday. Perfect weather and great snow for two runs far away from the pistes. The weather forecast was very unfavorable, so we had to hurry. By midday, the powder fun was over and 35 mm (= 37 liters / sqm) of rain in 24 hours was the result of a warm front. Snow was already falling again on Wednesday, but unfortunately it got very cold first and so everything was frozen solid.

When analyzing hundreds of mostly tragic avalanche accidents, Rudi and Patrick discovered that most accidents occur in typical, recurring hazard patterns. They therefore developed 10 typical, particularly accident-prone and frequent hazard patterns. Recognizing these avalanche hazard patterns should help winter sports enthusiasts to behave with appropriate caution – and thus avoid accidents.

Rudi Mair and Patrick Nairz are the avalanche warning experts from the Tyrolean Avalanche Warning Service. In their bestselling avalanche book "Avalanche. Die 10 entscheidenden Gefahrenmuster erkennen", the two avalanche experts present a new, complementary approach to avoiding avalanche accidents. When analyzing hundreds of mostly tragic avalanche accidents, Rudi and Patrick discovered that most accidents occur in typical, recurring hazard patterns. They therefore developed 10 typical, particularly accident-prone and frequent hazard patterns. Recognizing these avalanche hazard patterns should help winter sports enthusiasts to behave with appropriate caution – and thus avoid accidents. Here we present the 10 key hazard patterns in brief.

Yet another book about avalanche awareness, some will think when they hear about the new avalanche book by the two avalanche warning experts Rudi Mair and Patrick Nairz. That was certainly my first thought when I heard about the book. But when I read the book "Avalanche. Die 10 entscheidenden Gefahrenmuster erkennen" it quickly becomes clear that the approach to the subject of avalanches and avalanche risk in this book is completely different for the first time!

After the avalanche accidents at danger level 4 in the high winter of 09/10, the discussion about possible criminal prosecution of freeriders and tourers has once again flared up in the media. Lawyer and mountain guide Dr. Stefan Beulke explains the extent to which freeriders can expect criminal prosecution in the event of an avalanche accident.

The best European freeriders on skis and boards, interviews, risk management during video shoots, processing accidents... All this makes the new European freeride documentary a unique feat in freeride film history.

During a photo shoot on 28.3.08, snowboard pro and winner of the Freeride World Tour (2010), Xavier de le Rue, triggered a huge avalanche and was swept over two kilometers. Thanks to his avalanche airbag, he survives the accident almost unharmed. In an interview, Xavier comments on the spectacular photos and talks about his experiences and thoughts on the sport and emergency equipment.

Everything pointed to a perfect day. I had been following the daily avalanche reports from the SLF and the weather reports for the Gotthard region since the end of January. After the heavy snowfall and strong winds, it was clear to me: wait for relief!