Criticism after avalanche:

“Tourers no longer know the rules of conduct”

There was an avalanche at Blaseneck near Admont in Styria on Wednesday afternoon. A ski tourer was partially buried. A mountain rescuer, who happened to be there, sharply criticizes the incident.

At around 10 am, a group of winter sports enthusiasts set off on a ski tour to the Blaseneck. The group split up on the summit slope, with a 64-year-old Viennese woman continuing on at a greater distance from the rest of the group.

Woman waslucky
At around 1 p.m., a snow slab broke loose on the summit slope. The avalanche swept the 64-year-old woman away and buried her up to her hips, but she remained unharmed, according to a police statement on Thursday morning.

Mountain rescuer Paul Sodamin happened to be an eyewitness and helped the buried victim out of the snow together with a friend.

"Code of honor in the mountains"
The experienced alpinist criticizes the behaviour of the ski tourers: "Two of them stood on top of the summit and simply entered the 40-degree slope, even though there was a large group of winter sports enthusiasts directly below - you just don't do that". There is also a code of honor in the mountains: "But fewer and fewer people adhere to it".

The expert is currently urging caution despite the relatively low avalanche warning level: "The wind has been strong in the last few days and has moved a lot of snow, the lower layer is icy, so it can easily happen that an avalanche occurs as it did at Blaseneck."