Salzburg, Austria – On Saturday, March 11, 2017 a 52-year-old ski tourer from Carinthia was killed in an avalanche on the Königstuhl in the Nockberge Mountains near Thomatal in the Lungau province of Salzburg, Austria.
ORF.at reports that the man was on his own. He was last seen by another group near the summit of the Königstuhl at 11:45. No one saw the avalanche and it is unclear when it occurred.
Other ski tourers in the area found the avalanche slide path and did a beacon search. When they received a signal they initiated a rescue and found the man buried one meter deep. They located and dug up the skier but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. Another skier alerted authorities just after 14:00. Rescuers responded by helicopter to recover the body.
Lawine.Salzburg.at reports the avalanche danger as 3/5.
We will update this post when more information is available.
UPDATE 3/11:
- Lawis.at reports that this avalanche occurred on the Königstuhl in the Nockberge Mountains in Salzburg, Austria at a Lat/Long of 46.9484 ° N / 13.7783 ° E. The slide was on a 40 degree NE slope at 2090 meters. The size 2 slab avalanche ran on old snow. It measured 125 meters long, 40 meters wide, and 40 centimeters deep. The avalanche danger the time was 3/5. They note that more details will follow.
UPDATE 3/13:
- Touren.Lawinen.at released a detailed report about this avalanche accident. The skier was trying to cross the Rosaninsee at around 2090 meters when he triggered a slide that carried him 70 meters and buried he 1 meter deep. The avalanche was roughly 124 meters long, 35 meters long, and 30 to 70 cm deep. The slope angle was 34 to 40 degrees.
- Visit Touren.Lawinen.at for full details – including photos and a map.
Read more about the avalanche on the Konigstuhl in in Salzburg, Austria from the following sources:
All 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.
