Balmhorn, Switzerland – On Wednesday, February 22, 2017 a 36-year-old ski tourer from Zurich was caught and killed in an avalanche while descending the south face of the Balmhorn near Leukerbad in Valais, Switzerland.
The victim was ski touring with a 42-year-old at the time of the incident. At 06:30 the pair had left the Altelshutte toward the Balmhorn. At 15:00 the were descending the Balmhorn. They were approximately 30 meters apart when the victim was caught in an avalanche and dragged several hundred meters down the slope. See a photo of the slope here.
SLF.ch reports that the avalanche occurred on a south aspect at 3580 meters on the Balmhorn in Leukerbad in Valais. The avalanche danger at the time was 2/5. Find a map of the accident location here. Lawis.at reports the lat/long as 46.4239° N / 7.6905° E.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
This is the 6th avalanche fatality in Switzerland this year:
- 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 the Balmhorn in Valais, Switzerland 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.
