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18. 03. 10. - 12:00

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18. 03. 10. - 12:00

Expert warns of high avalanche danger

The danger of avalanches is very high and off-piste winter skiers should take extra care, an avalanche expert warned yesterday (Weds).

Klaus Wagenbichler from the Salzburg mountain rescue service said that a combination of heavy snow in the past few days and rising temperatures had created perfect conditions for many avalanches.

He urged skiers to pay extra attention to the daily avalanche danger report by the provincial government and to "behave defensively and take maximum security measures in current conditions" since the slightest pressure on snow, particularly on steep slopes, could trigger an avalanche.

The avalanche danger was at level four yesterday in many areas of the province.

The expert’s warning came shortly after the death of a woman in the Obertauern mountains in Salzburg yesterday morning.

Salzburg mountain rescue service spokeswoman Maria Riedler said the woman’s male companion had triggered an avalanche that had completely buried her under metres of snow.

It took mountain rescuers choppered in with dogs an hour and a half to find the woman since she had failed to turn on the sensor in her backpack. She was already dead by the time they dug her body out.

Her companion was only slightly injured.

Statistics show that an average of 26 people die in avalanches in the Austrian Alps every year.

Austrian Times

Related articles: winter sport accidents

1. Avalanches claim 37 in Austria

   » General News 2010-05-05

   A higher-than-average number of people were killed by avalanches in the Austrian Alps this winter.

2. ÖAMTC chopper fleet makes 200,000th rescue outing

   » General News 2010-04-30

   A chopper from ÖAMTC’s Kitzbühel base carried out the motorist club fleet’s overall 200,000th rescue outing yesterday (Thurs).

3. Hiker in clinic after 50-metre Salzburg fall

   » General News 2010-04-23

   A team of paramedics managed to rescue a hiker after he fell in a pathless area in Werfenweng, Salzburg, yesterday afternoon (Thurs).

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