Sölden 2015 Avalanche Accident Report

[PhaethonF1 7,386]

Το 2015, οι αθλητές Ronnie Berlack και Bryce Astle, σε μια χαλαρή μέρα εκτός προπόνησης, έχασαν τη ζωή τους σε ατύχημα με χιονοστιβάδα το Sölden.

Μια νέα, λεπτομερής αναφορά για το ατύχημα βγήκε στη δημοσιότητα. Αξίζει πραγματικά να τη διαβάσετε, καθώς τονίζει πολλές πτυχές της υπόθεσης και αναδεικνύει τα σημαντικότερα σημεία που πρέπει όλοι να προσέχουμε στο βουνό εκτός πίστας.

Το σχετικό άρθρο εδώ:

https://www.brassfoundation.org/news/2018/10/20/new-accident-report-details-2015-avalanche-deaths

 

Η πλήρης αναφορά για το περιστατικό:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxWCA8ZkCZIkhifIto4H893Dye270eus/view

 

 

 

Σταχυολογώ από το report ορισμένα σημεία, που κατά τη γνώμη μου είναι και σημαντικά και εύκολα κατανοητά από τον κόσμο:

 

 

Making a skier’s left turn, they entered an ungroomed, uncontrolled, steep open slope that led to another marked, groomed trail more than 350 meters below. None of the skiers were carrying avalanche safety gear (transceivers, shovels, or probes).

---

The avalanche failed on a layer of facets on an ice crust: HS-AS-D2-R3-O (meaning it was a hard slab, human triggered, destructive size 2, relative size 3, sliding on a layer of old snow).

Due to a period of little-to-no snowfall before Christmas, combined with very low temperatures, the snowpack was, generally, very poorly structured with several layers of crusts and faceted crystals. Additionally, there was much wind-transported snow atop more loosely packed powder. There were other slab avalanches observed, natural and skier triggered, in the area the week preceding this accident.

An investigation of the snowpack near the fracture line of the avalanche, revealed clear evidence that the avalanche ran on a hard layer (most likely a rain crust) which had a weak layer of faceted crystals on top of it (image 9). This was all underneath a cohesive wind slab layer of recent snow, which was still soft enough to provide powder conditions for the skiers.

---

The warning system clearly communicated on 5 January 2015, a Level 3, ‘considerable,’ warning in Sölden. This warning level should have been enough to lead the group to avoid steeper, untracked slopes. But for that to happen, they needed to be aware of the warning level and its meaning in a practical sense, which takes avalanche education and SA.