Partly high avalanche danger in the southern Alps
Published: Monday, Apr 1st 2024, 13:01
Volver a Live Feed
Lots of fresh snow and gale-force winds have caused considerable avalanche danger in southern Alpine regions in Austria and Switzerland. On Easter Monday, there was a high avalanche risk in Austria in the southern Ötztal Alps and in the central Stubai Alps, as well as in parts of Graubünden and Valais in Switzerland and in South Tyrol in Italy. "Very large and occasionally extremely large spontaneous avalanches are to be expected," said the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) in Davos on Easter Monday. The Tyrol avalanche report spoke of a "partly critical avalanche situation", with particular dangers above the tree line.
There had been a lot of fresh snow at higher altitudes in the previous days. The strong winds caused large accumulations of drifting snow, which are particularly susceptible to disruption, according to all situation descriptions. Spontaneous avalanches at high altitudes could also sweep away wet old snow at medium altitudes.
Avalanche experts checked the situation in the ski resorts in order to close endangered ski slopes. Ski tourers who are off the marked pistes are at greater risk. In Switzerland, 14 people lost their lives in twelve avalanche accidents in the winter of 2023/24 up to the end of March.
©Keystone/SDA
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic