Andermatt avalanche over the piste

As we had just decided yesterday to visit Andermatt as my exit skiing trip upcoming weekend, the images of a super scary avalanche going over the pistes is taking over the news today here in Central Switzerland. As you can see several people are dragged in the snowbrett, but luckily lots also managed to escape. Two people have been found with minor injuries (thank god) and the search for potential people under the snow is on.

Now mostly what you hear on avalanches is that they are caused by people who are skiing outside the the normal routes. Every day the teams in the mountains check the snowconditions and also preventively trigger avalanches so these kinds of things do not happen. Nobody knows on what triggered this snowslide, if it was a human, an animal or just the general conditions.

It has been snowing a lot in the Alps this week, but I would have thought the snowpack was more stable. Although it was windy over the last couple of days, this might have accumulated large packs which then spontaneously start to slide for no reason.

Last season there was also a spontaneous avalanche that went over the piste here in Switzerland, but this was in Crans Montana, tragically leaving 1 person dead who was actually a mountainpatrol person helping an injured one on the side of piste.

Hearing the rescue helicopters come over and seeing these videos give me the creeps. I stopped skiing outside the pistes a long time ago already because in the end nature is just way too strong for us. You see even the best prepared experienced mountaineers getting caught by the snow every now and then. Mostly these people grew up in these regions, knowing everything about circumstances, the quality of the snow and where the danger in the region lies. Snow is difficult to calculate because it is a reflection of all of the weather that passed by over the months.

Maybe heading there in the weekend isn't the sweetest idea. Let's see...