After the avalanche in East Tyrol’s Kartitsch with one dead – the “Krone” reported – more details about the accident are now known. The safety equipment saved the life of the second victim, a freerider. Of course, any help came too late for a 28-year-old ski tourer without the appropriate safety equipment.
The avalanche in Kartitsch on Wednesday afternoon claimed the first avalanche deaths this winter. It is still unclear who triggered the snow slab with two buried people. In fact, the East Tyrolean tourer (28), who later died in the Innsbruck clinic, and three freeriders from Austria and Germany were on the rise. Two more freeriders were waiting further down to film the descent of the three colleagues. “One of the climbers must have triggered the avalanche, which was followed by a second one,” says Patrick Nairz from the Tyrolean Avalanche Warning Service. According to Nairz, the slope of the accident is around 45 degrees steep in the starting area. It was only found after hours. The freerider was two and a half (!) meters below the mass of snow. He wore an avalanche transceiver (LVS) so that his comrades were able to dig him out almost unharmed. According to Viktor Horvath, head of the Tyrolean Alpine Police, the tourer who was buried and later died was unfortunately on the road without safety equipment. He was only found by probing after a few hours.
source site-12