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L'incidente da valanga al Finsterkopf, nel Grossarltal (Salisburgo), ha coinvolto un gruppo in formazione del Club Alpino: quattro dei sette partecipanti hanno perso la vita.
Image: dpa
The weather was glorious. This is probably why the warnings about the delicate avalanche situation had no effect. The fatalities include tour guides who were on further training.
Mountain rescuer Gerhard Kremser is at a loss and desperate. Warnings about the precarious avalanche situation in the Alps have been issued for days - and yet quite a few people still set off on a ski tour. "I don't know what's going on in people's heads," he says about the behavior of winter sports enthusiasts. For eight people, their ski tour in the Austrian Alps ended fatally at the weekend. They were buried by slab avalanches and probably suffocated under the masses of snow within a very short space of time.
It was the deadliest avalanche weekend in the Alps so far this season. The three snow slabs fell in the federal states of Salzburg and Styria.
In Switzerland, there were also four deaths from avalanches in January alone: on January 11, 50-year-old Swiss Olympic snowboarding medal winner Ueli Kestenholz was caught in an avalanche in the Valais mountains and later died as a result. A group of four people were caught in an avalanche during a ski tour in Chamoson VS on January 16. Two former Valais cantonal police officers died - one on site, the other later in hospital. On Piz Badü near Andermatt GR, a German skier was buried under masses of snow on January 17 and died.
The most serious accident in Austria even affected an Alpine Club course group. The course had taken place as part of a regular winter training programme of the Austrian Alpine Club, according to the organization. "It was a multi-day course for tour guides, led by a mountain guide. All very experienced people," says Alpine Club spokesperson Gerald Zagler.
Four of the seven course participants were killed in the accident in Grossarltal in the province of Salzburg - three men aged 53, 63 and 65 and a 60-year-old woman.
"Risk competence and safety awareness are top priorities in our courses. This accident hurts deeply," says Jörg Randl, head of the Austrian Alpine Club's mountain sports department. The organization is in close contact with the authorities and the relatives of those affected. "The alpine community mourns with the relatives," says Wolfgang Schnabl, President of the Austrian Alpine Club.
In the province of Styria, three people were buried under an avalanche in the Murtal region. All help came too late for the three Czechs. Their bodies were to be recovered on Sunday.
Near Bad Hofgastein, a 58-year-old woman was caught in an avalanche in front of her husband during a ski tour. In this case too, the emergency doctor was only able to determine death. Further avalanches were observed without anything happening.
A large number of rescuers were involved in the three accidents. In total, more than 200 helpers and mountain rescuers reportedly helped to recover the dead and fly the injured to hospitals.
In a slab avalanche, wet fresh snow or old snow breaks off in a large slab, which disintegrates into individual slabs as it slides down.
IMAGO/Zoonar/Daniel Vonwiller
The slab avalanches of the weekend are not comparable to the dust avalanches that thunder down into the valley over a long distance. Often, only a manageable area the size of a football pitch or less slips. "It's only a few meters between life and death," says Kremser, referring to the location of the skiers at the time of the accident.
In any case, even small amounts of snow are enough to bury people. Without a breathing cavity, there is a risk of death by suffocation within a few minutes.
The current widespread avalanche warning level 3 is particularly treacherous, continues Kremser. It obviously gives the impression that the particularly dangerous levels four and five have not yet been reached. But the danger doubles with each level. "Three is twice as dangerous as two." The warning levels four and five make many ski tourers hesitate anyway, says the mountain rescuer.
The snow cover is very unstable. The old snow is frozen - and 30 to 40 centimetres of fresh snow fell on top of this layer around a week ago, says Kremser. The two layers have practically no connection. A lot of drift snow has also accumulated due to the strong wind. "The snow base is very poor this time."
The weight of a single skier can be enough to trigger a snow slab. "Avalanche-prone areas are located in all directions above around 2000 m above sea level. These areas are numerous," according to the avalanche warning service website. "They are covered with fresh snow and are therefore barely visible even to the trained eye."
18.01.2026, 15:15
19.01.2026, 06:56
