Chopok Mountain, Slovakia – On Thursday, February 15, 2018 a 54-year-old skier was caught, buried, and killed in an avalanche while skiing in the Veľkého Gápľa area on the south side of 2024-meter Chopok Mountain in the Low Tatras of central Slovakia.
Rescuers were notified and responded both on foot and via helicopter with rescue dogs. After about an hour of searching, rescuers located the skier, who was buried three meters deep.
The avalanche was reported as 200 meters wide and 800 meters long. The debris was estimated to be 6 meters deep.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
Updated 2/18:
- Lawis.at reports that this avalanche occurred at a lat/long of 48.9182° N / 19.6302° E at Nizke Tatry, Velky Gapel. This is a 37 degree northwest aspect at 1700 meters. The size 3 slab avalanche ran 800 meters by 150 meters. The avalanche danger was rated 2/5.
- For a detailed accident report, visit RescueService.sk.
See Also: Global Avalanche Accidents 2017/2018
Read more about the Avalanche on Chopok Mountain in Slovakia from the following sources:
- Tag24.de
- CAS.sk
- HZS.sk
- Spravy.pravda.sk
- TA3.com
- Topky.sk
- Aktuality.sk
- Slovensko.HNOnline.sk
- ByStricoviny.sk
Information in this post was found using Google Translate. There may be errors in this information. Please use the sources listed above to verify all facts.
