Industry News
A 28-year-old German woman was killed on Saturday, January 27, in an avalanche near the Gaiskogel, a 2,820 meter (9,252 feet) peak near the ski area Kühtai in Tyrol.
The woman had set out with her partner, a 26-year-old German man, and his 32-year-old German friend on a freeski/split-board tour to the Gaiskogel North Couloir. The trio had taken a bus from Innsbruck to Kühtai at 9 a.m., from where they had planned to skin up to the North Couloir. They reached the summit around 11:20 a.m.
The snow at the peak was hard and they had difficulty securing their skis when they were removing the skins. The woman had removed the first skin and put the ski in the ground to remove the second skin when a gust of wind blew away the first ski into the eastern flank of the Gaiskogel. Although the ski was equipped with a ski stopper, the ski did not come to rest until approximately 200 meters (656 feet) further down
As the ski could still be seen from the summit, her partner decided to ski down this steep eastern flank to retrieve her ski. When he reached his girlfriend’s ski, he tied it to his backpack and mounted his skins again to hike back up. He was just about to climb when he was suddenly caught by an avalanche and was carried down about 20 – 30 meters (65 – 100 feet). He had rolled over several times but was okay.
His friend decided to ski down to come to his aid and he stopped approximately 100 meters (328 feet) below his friend on a ridge, in order to assess the safety of the situation. As he looked up the mountain, he saw the 28-year-old female moving down a few meters below the summit on one ski below a cornice. Suddenly an avalanche broke from the cornice and was coming towards him. The 32-year-old managed to avoid being swept away by the avalanche, but the female companion was swept away and buried by the snow masses.
Mountain rescue was notified by the two men and the female skier was found by the mountain rescue. Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful and the German woman died at the scene. It is unclear if she was equipped with a beacon. Her partner and his friend were uninjured and were evacuated by the emergency helicopter.
According to the police report, mountain rescue, dog handlers, as well as the alpine police were involved in the search and rescue.
