We were a group of 4 skiers taking a freeride route in Davos Parsenn (from Weissfluhjoch), this route is prepared and inspected by the resort for off-piste riders. When going through one of the steeper faces, a slab avalanche broke and took one of the skiers down. See full video and analysis of what happened and what we did. Feel free to comment on what was we did wrong or right.
source
As you mentioned, a few mistakes were made:
– it was apparent that much snow had been deposited near the ridge (just the day prior, you wrote). You could have easily walked along the ridge and tried to set off a slab to test the face, but took a more risky approach by dropping in directly with no clear island of safety ahead.
– skier number 1 stopped smack in the middle of a run out zone. The risk could have been mitigated by stopping either to the left or to the right, in a more elevated position farther from the fall line.
– skier number 3 seemed to be following you a little too closely. Had you considered more objectively the risk involved with this run, you would have likely proceeded one by one from island of safety to island of safety.
– digging work was a bit sloppy. True, this was a lucky scenario with no hurry, but you should always dig into the slope and towards the person rather than straight down: it is a lot more efficient and you don't risk standing on them inadvertently (it happens). Shovels out and gloves on, you don't wanna waste time and you don't wanna get wet.
Other than this, props to you for being humble and posting so others can learn. Did you receive any feedback from SAR?
I hope your next days out will be calmer, cheers.
It's freaky to see how it looks like not a lot of snow falling, but then seeying the skier absolutely gone in the snow. Guess without the proper equipment you can die pretty fast..
many lessons learned, but can you please share? what's the point of sharing
Crazy, I've done this slope countless in my life (it's called Steinbock), every winter a 4-5x, also when it was hazard level 3 (but it was never closed).
Never thought that on this slope could occur such terrifying avalanches…
It's pretty scary to see just how fast skier 3 is being carried down the slope at 2:27–2:40. If there were any trees or rocks in the way, that's a lot of impact force…
Last time I was in Davos the skiers in the avalanche didn’t come out alive.😢
This won't be a problem in a few years as there will no longer be any snow.
I learned about those inflatable backpacks last year, ingenious. Glad so many people are wearing them.
Avalanches in Davos aren't the deadliest but surely the most expensive ones…
Always heard those backpacks could be life savers. Pretty cool to see one work and do its job.
Hey, I am often in Davos, part of the family is living there and we have a house there. Usually for biking (your vid on Jacobshorn ridge is riggen quite well 🙂 ) but in Winter from time to time for skiing. WHat I don‘t understand is your „thought process“. I mean, in each and every avalanche training they tell you that other skiers tracks don’t tell you anything. You need to evaluate the conditions, the face steepness, snow conditions (in this case the snow seems to be quite compressed) and the face location etc. This was a relatively small avalanche but boy, there are so many rocks around that I would be actually more scared to hit than anything else… But good reaction though! 😉
Et oui, quand on essaye ce jeu,il faut accepter de perdre..!!
Glad everyone is ok. Wind dep should always be a red flag, it's prone to slab off. As a rule, especially in terrain new to me, I won't drop into obvious wind dep.
By them voices I can tell two off these people have been in Avalanches before or at least are have been through the tunnel alot of times.
Beautiful Upload friend. keep it up. Thank you for sharing this to us. Greetings from Korea
Your example only encourages other hotheads to make a splash.
where are your shovels and probes? everyone needs all equipment
Bastante arriesgado
Interesting glad everyone ok
you are really lucky the avalanche was pretty small and the angle of downhill either as i can see
They wrote Weissfluhjoch in the beginning, but what they showed is the summit, Weissflugipfel. The Joch is the middle station, where the little train ends. Anyways, the good thing on the northern side of the Weissfluhgipfel where they skied is that a black piste is directly next to it on one side and a cable car is directly next to it on the other side, there is another smaller escalator and piste at the bottom and the off-piste section where they skied is very short until it meets the piste again, there are no trees, just lots of rocks, so people will at least spot you immediately if you fall or anything happens, it is not hidden or remote territory. But it is a bit steep in places and I'm glad she was ok. A friend of mine ruined his new board in the first run down the backside of this exact peak once, because sometimes the rocks are barely covered in snow. The "normal" piste starting on the backside of the Weissfluhgipfel and going all the way down to Klosters is the longest run (12 km) of the entire area btw, and it is very nice!
Please remember folks: Gravity is not just a good idea…it's the law!
Impressive how calm you stayed and were able to make good decisions. I am glad you and your friends got out safely!
Hello everyone
When looking at and studying the steepest part of the slope, i.e. in this case the slope entrance, you should never, ever drive into this slope. You can see that the snow has been transported by the wind and is bound.
With avalanche level 3, such steep entrances should not be driven on in these conditions.
With alpine greetings
Raphael Wellig
Damn thanks for sharing
I only ski on video games
Is it just me or should the avalanche danger levels be reworked? In my country the levels are identical to school grades, 1 being the best and 5 the worst. 3 makes (naive) people believe that it's not that bad, because the mark 3 is not that bad.
I also think it should be formulated more "pessimistic":
Level 5: Very high chance of deadly avalanche.
Level 3: Moderate chance of deadly avalanche.
Dang. Great advertisement for the inflatable backpack
Thank you for sharing this video with the world as an excellent educational resource. It's remarkable to observe how the other skier got trapped under what seemed like a small amount of snow
The cameraman never die
Thought Process prior to ride at Avalanche level 3 is just USELESS
if you ride in these conditions you accept the chance of dying. straight forward thats why they have Avalanche levels, TRACKS TO RIDE ON and stuff
That snow is like ocean, you don't really know what's under you. Crazy 🥶
A Swiss would never do what you did…
Very important to dig fast because the snow is loose right after it stops but then hardens to concrete like.
You did well…
Respect for displaying this so others can learn. A slab test at top before first rider could have possibly shown danger. Luckily it was not deep. May others learn from this. Kudos again for letting them see and annotating it to show where things worked and where things could have been done better. Being prepared was a smart decision and all others need to know this could have turned out very ugly for rider #3 if not prepped with avi-floats (local dialect in Canada)
I go to davos every year xd
Wir waren 2x in Davos
Sehr schön dort inzwischen für uns aber unbezahlbar😢
2:28 they see me rollin they hatin