Son Watches Father Get Buried In Avalanche While Riding Off Piste In Obersaxen-Mundaun
Graubünden, Switzerland – On Thursday, March 2, 2017 a 53-year-old snowboarder was caught, buried, and killed while riding off piste below Piz Sezner near the ski area of Obersaxen-Mundaun in the Lepontine Alps in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.
The man was snowboarding with his 17-year-old son at the time of the incident. The pair had accessed an off piste area on foot that was approximately 200 meters from the chairlift. The father rode first and the son followed. That’s when the avalanche occurred. Both individuals were caught in the slide, but only the father was buried.
Other skiers in the area saw the incident from the chairlift and alerted authorities. Rescue was made difficult due to bad weather and rescuers had to use the chairlift to access the accident site. Rescuers located and extracted the man, but unfortunately he did not survive.
SLF.ch notes that the size 2 avalanche occurred at 2280 meters on a North aspect. The starting zone was Piz Sezner in the community of Obersaxen Mundaun in the canton of Graubünden. The avalanche danger was rated 3/5. See a map of the avalanche location here.
This is the 7th avalanche fatality in Switzerland during the 2016/2017 winter season:
- 23 February 2017 – Balhorm, Leukerbad, VS
- 7 February 2017 – Hohture, Ried-Brig, VS
- 4 February 2017 – Obere Stafel, Binn, VS
- 21 January 2017 – Forstberg, Oberiberg, SZ
- 7 January 2017 – Gemstock, Andermatt, UR
- 6 January 2017 – Tita Seri, Leytron, VS
Read more about the avalanche on Piz Sezner near Obersaxen-Mundaun in Graubünden, Switzerland from the following sources:
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.
