UKC Forums - Massive avalanche in the alps

Massive avalanche in the alps

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TM_Horton 20 Apr 2013

near the le quotidien de ma région, i was supposed to be on this via ferrata in the video on the same day !!! luckily i wasn't... no one hurt. but the ferrata runs close to where the avalanche ends up in the clip !!! amazing footage

Trangia 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton:

F****** Hell!

nniff 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton:

Oops. So, how many paddlers have avalanche threat on their checklist?

bigdelboy 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton:
As the French lady said "oh la la!"

Indeed!

dale1968 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton: wow...(for the second time today)

NottsRich 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton: Amazing...

What river is it? I don't recognise it from that angle, and I've paddled in the Alps quite a lot.

OP TM_Horton 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton: I'm not sure on the river name, however its size is comparable to the durance...

pneame 20 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton:
The via Ferrata is at 44°57'27.68" 6°10'12.96"E

Looks as if it happens reasonably often (geologically speaking based on the scarring of the hillside)

tjhare1 20 Apr 2013

In reply to NottsRich:
The river is the Veneon. The via ferrata runs beneath St Christophe, with access from just beneath where the road goes up steeply into the village. Sort of beneath the refuge alpe du pin and down valley a bit. Hope some of that is of some help!

Dave 20 Apr 2013

In reply to pneame:

> (In reply to TM_Horton)
> The via Ferrata is at 44°57'27.68" 6°10'12.96"E
>
> Looks as if it happens reasonably often (geologically speaking based on the scarring of the hillside)

Yes, but not that often on that scale at least as it took out some pretty big trees near the bottom which must have been there a while. Got to say that was impressive.

Null 21 Apr 2013

In reply to Dave:
There are likely to be some monsters over the next couple of days. There is an incredible amount of wet snow up high this year, and it just snowed all weekend (above 1500 m) with as much as a metre of fresh. They give generalized marked grade 4 on Monday tending to get worse during the day!
I have only seen such a bad risk forecast once or twice over the last 9 years.

Tim Chappell 21 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton:

Whooof. When the river melts/ bursts that ice-plug, there's going to be a pretty hairy flash-flood downstream, too.

pneame 21 Apr 2013

In reply to Dave:

> (In reply to pneame)
> [...]
> Yes, but not that often on that scale at least as it took out some pretty big trees near the bottom which must have been there a while. Got to say that was impressive.

Agreed - last one was probably a minimum of 100 years ago, based on tree height,

Wild speculative guess, of course, as befits UKC!

davy_boy 21 Apr 2013

In reply to TM_Horton: amazing video done that via ferrata myself a few years back and there is a trail runs right along the opposite side through all the scree and landslide debris. very luck nobody was killed either on the path or the lower part of the route.