Avalanche
According to Mountain Rescue Vipiteno/Sterzing, three backcountry skiers from Germany were caught in an avalanche in South Tyrol, Italy, on Wednesday afternoon, February 28. The trio had traveled in a group of four with one skier turning around mid-way. Currently, two of the skiers are in critical condition, while a third was pronounced dead at the accident site.
On Wednesday morning, a group of four touring skiers from Germany set off on a tour to the Glaitner Hochjoch at 2,389 meters (7,838 feet) in South Tyrol, near the Austrian-Italian border. The three men and a woman started their tour from the small parking lot in Innerratschings at an altitude of 1,520 meters (4,987 feet) and continued past the Innere Wumblsalm at 1,898 meters (6,227 feet) towards the Glaitner Hochjoch. One team member decided to turn around and wait for his friends at the Innere Wumblsalm, a mountain hut, while the other three continued their tour toward the summit. At 4 p.m., when his friends had not returned to the Innere Wumblsalm and he was unable to reach the trio on their mobile phones, the friend alerted search and rescue.
The mountain rescue Ridnaun-Ratschings deployed around 60 rescue workers and avalanche dogs from various organizations, including the Mountain rescue Sterzing (Soccorso Alpino CNSAS Vipiteno), the Mountain rescue service Gossensass/Pflersch EO, the Heli-Flight Rescue South Tyrol (Elisoccorso Alto Adige), and the Dolomites heli mountain rescue (Aiut Alpin Dolomites). A search flight by the rescue helicopter Aiut Alpin Dolomites spotted a slide as well as uphill tracks leading into the slide below the Glaitner Hochjoch and a search in that area was quickly initiated. Rescue teams found the buried skiers with the help of beacons and raced against the sunset to extract the buried skiers. Around 5:45 p.m. the three ski tourers were freed, but were unresponsive, and resuscitation efforts were initiated by emergency doctors of heli-flight rescue South Tyrol as well as Aiut Alpin Dolomites. Around 6 p.m. two skiers—a man and a woman—were flown to the Bolzano/Bozen hospital with serious injuries while work on the third skier continued. Unfortunately, at 6:30 p.m. one person, a 21-year-old male skier, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident and the deceased was flown to Sterzing Hospital.
The avalanche occurred at 2,100 meters (6,890 feet) in altitude and was 150 meters (492 feet) long and 80 meters (262 feet) wide. It is unclear how long the touring skiers were buried in the snow but it is estimated, given the timeline, it was at least two hours.
AVS Ridnaun/Ratschings search and rescue shared incredible, yet heartbreaking pictures of the rescue efforts on Facebook, which illustrate the sheer scale of this rescue effort. We have decided to share these for educational purposes. Readers’ discretion is advised.Â
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