Five ski tourers dead – Valais police continue to search for missing person – News

  • The search for a missing person continues after the accident in the Valais Alps. Five of the six ski tourers were found dead yesterday.
  • The exact circumstances of his death are not yet known.
  • The ski tourers did everything they could to protect themselves, the police said at a media conference.
  • The temperatures were extremely cold and the weather conditions were very difficult.

A large rescue contingent was used to search for the ski touring group: “Helicopters, Super Pumas, dozens of experts, the army, psychologists” were deployed, explained Fredy-Michel Roten, director of the cantonal rescue organization KWRO.

However, the difficult conditions would have made the search more difficult. “Bad visibility, cold, wind, a big risk of avalanches,” is how Christian Varone, commander of the Valais cantonal police, described the conditions. They were catastrophic.

An initial search operation on Saturday had to be canceled after an emergency call from the group reached the police at around 5:20 p.m. The rescue team had to turn back at 3,000 meters.

The weather conditions were catastrophic.

Even during the night and on Sunday morning, no suitable weather window opened to send another search party. The army was called in during the course of Sunday afternoon. And at 6:30 p.m. a team of two rescue workers, a doctor and a police officer were dropped off near the Dent Blanche hut.

At around 9:20 p.m., rescue workers reached the Tête Blanche area, where they discovered five of the six missing people – with no signs of life. When asked whether the group had built a snow cave, Commander Christian Varone said: “They did everything they could to protect themselves.”

Dozens of rescue workers were on duty

The rescue workers would do everything possible to find the person who was still missing. But you also have to be realistic about your chances of survival, since the person has been missing since Saturday.

Help of technology

The police’s cyber, IT and technology specialists were also on duty. They evaluated all the data from cell phones, social networks and GPS that had been collected from the families. This analysis made it possible to confirm the mountaineers’ likely whereabouts.

The exact process


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People from Valais and Freiburg

Five of the six ski tourers belong to a family from the canton of Valais. The sixth person originally comes from the city of Freiburg – all between 21 and 58 years old. The authorities cannot yet say which person in the group is missing. It is also unclear whether the ski tourers were adequately equipped. This question is part of the ongoing investigations.

Prosecutor General Béatrice Pilloud asked not to prejudge the victims. Nothing is known yet about the exact circumstances; this is now being investigated in detail. Police commander Christian Varone also emphasized that the weather could change quickly: “The mountain has the last word, even for experienced mountaineers.”

How were the weather conditions?


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The ski tourers were on the Haute Route between Zermatt and Arolla when they were caught in a storm. The weather also affected search and rescue operations. Gaudenz Flury from SRF Meteo summarizes the weather conditions from the weekend.

SRF News: What were the weather conditions on the Haute Route on Saturday?

On Saturday morning the weather was still fairly calm. The wind was relatively weak, according to data from the measuring station on the Gornergrat, above Zermatt. But the first gusts of around 80 km/h were registered around midday. At around 4 p.m., hurricane gusts of over 120 km/h were measured – all of this on the Gornergrat at around 3,100 meters above sea level. The Col de la Tête Blanche is at almost 3600 meters, so possibly more exposed than the measurements on the Gornergrat.

When the group set out, was it already known that conditions would deteriorate throughout the day?

The forecasts on our website were: It will be quite sunny on Saturday morning, but on the main Alpine ridge it will be partly cloudy from the south. In the afternoon thick clouds will roll in from the west. But it mostly stays dry. Föhn storm: Gusts of 60 to 90 km/h, peaking on Sunday night in the Hasli and Uri Reuss valleys up to 130 km/h and on the summits up to 160 km/h.

The avalanche picture from Friday evening: level three significant, i.e. significant avalanche danger. The danger description stated: With strong to stormy southerly winds, snowdrift accumulations that are prone to triggering can also occur far from the ridges. Avalanches can also be triggered at deeper levels. These danger spots are difficult to recognize, even for experienced people.

What are the forecasts for further recovery?

The weather today is much calmer. In the morning it is quite sunny, the wind is light. It shouldn’t be a problem to be out and about this morning. In the afternoon more cloud fields will appear again. So I think the rescue will be attempted this morning.

The interview was conducted by Susanne Stöckl.

There are always serious accidents in the Valais mountains, said police commander Christian Varone. “We had a similarly serious incident in 2000. And in 2018 there was an accident involving skiers in which seven people died.”

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