SerreChe 2 Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 Unfortunately the latest casualty happened at La Grave on the 23rd of March where a German snowboarder killed himself. Article (in french): http://infos.brianconnais.net/index.php/2006/03/20/151-le-printemps-arrive The 26y old was taking a route from les 2 Alpes to La Grave. The route was above a cliff band. He encountered bad snow conditions (most likely ice on steep), lost control and fell 40m off the cliffband. The accident was witnessed by a mountain guide on a different route who called for rescue, but the man could not be revived. Pretty sad, no more details. Sounds like an ice axe could have saved his life. It is a carbon copy of most accidents happening at La Grave (ice on steep above a cliffband without proper equipement and no means to turn around). Article does not say whether he was alone or not. The Stats so far for France are: Number of avalanche incidents reported = 99 Number of avalanches involving deaths = 47 Number of deaths = 53 18 deaths in the southern alps. 9 deaths in the Hautes Alpes sector. Article here (in french): http://infos.brianconnais.net/index.php/2006/03/20/151-le-printemps-arrive These are the highest figures in 35 years. Mostly attributed to 2 factors: Exceptionnaly unfavorable meteorological conditions + high increase in the number of people going off-piste. Details of the statistics compiled by the ANENA: http://www.anena.org/actu/actu_bilan/bilan_05_06/tableau_bilan05_06.html Link to post Share on other sites
micke 0 Posted August 20, 2006 Share Posted August 20, 2006 According to this there were only three deaths in Chamonix last season? Felt like someone died every week there, but maybe it was just people talking. Link to post Share on other sites
SerreChe 2 Posted August 20, 2006 Author Share Posted August 20, 2006 I think maybe the ANENA statistics only refer to avalanches and not other types of accidents such as rock falls etc. I also know that many accidents are not reported (On my last trip a group of climbers were hit by a rock fall that necessitated a helicopter rescue, but it was not reported anywhere). I think the most accurate source of statistics would be from the various PGHMs. I checked their websites but they are not working... Link to post Share on other sites
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