The Mountain Doctors Network (MdeM) has compiled the winter sports accident figures for the 2023-2024 season. The report shows 136,700 injuries, which represents an average of 2.6 injuries per 1,000 skier days.
Three skiers enjoying the snow and views of Banff Sunshine Village. Photo: Banff Sunshine Village Resort. Unsplash. Mountain Doctors publishes accident figures.
The winter sports accident observatory. Mountain Doctors publishes accident figures.
The results of the epidemiological network for observing winter sports accidents constitute the most comprehensive database (more than 400,000 cases in the database to date, since 1992) on winter sports pathologies.
For the 2023-2024 season, the report shows 136,700 injuries. This total number allows the association to establish a risk incidence reported to the number of skier days provided by Domaines Skiables de France. This average is 2.6 injured people per 1,000 skier-days.
With the last accident of the fixed-grip chairlift in Astun and stories of guests having to be evacuated on a couple of lifts lately in Winter Park and Telluride, one might worry about the safety of getting on any lift.
Safety on lifts- Are Ski Lifts Unsafe?
Getting on lifts is very safe. They do get maintained yearly and their parts get changed due to wear and tear. And technology has gotten much more safety in the past years. But accidents do happen.
Most times, accidents are due to human error, as, per example, for not putting the safety bar down, or in the case of surface lifts, due to not using the lift as it is intended. Many times, on surface lifts you see people just slaloming or grabbing the surface lift in a way that is not supposed, and that can cause the button lift or t-bar to derail. Continue reading “Are Ski Lifts Unsafe?”
As of 3.30 AM this morning, a fire has broken out in a hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, in Northwestern Turkey (province of Bolu). As per il Corriere della Sera, at least 66 people died and 51 were injured.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc announced that four people were arrested after this incident, including the owner of the hotel.
The fire has been pretty much put down by 30 fire engines. This was a 12-story hotel with a restaurant. About 234 people were staying in the building.
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Second fire at Chapelco Ski Resort within a couple of weeks.
The ski resort of Chapelco, in the Lake Region of the Argentine Patagonia, has suffered a second fire within a couple of weeks. The resort located just outside the village of San Martín de los Andes recorded a fire this morning, around 9.30 AM local time, in the equipment rental shop called Austria, located at the entrance of the resort.
Fire of the rental shop Austria in the base of Chapelco, in San Martin de los Andes. Second fire at Chapelco Ski Resort within a couple of weeks.
For unknown reasons, the flames consumed in minutes the whole rental shop, while the tourists where running away barefoot. Three groups of firemen went to put the fire out.
A big dense cloud of smoke can be seen from the city, located 5 km from the resort. The skiers and tourists have been posting all day photos and videos on social media.
The fire occurred in the parking lot where the rental shops for picking up and leaving ski and snowboard equipment are located, and the shop called Austria was completely burnt. The firemen where working to avoid the fire to spread out.
A lift employee has died and six were injured in an accident while maintaining a lift from Titlis Bergbahnen.
During a revision work on the Titlis cable car, a serious accident occurred. The gondola lift was closed to tourist traffic at the time of the accident and there were also no gondolas on the rope, as reported by the cantonal police Obwald.
When employees of the Bergbahnen Engelberg-Titlis were working on the Gerschnialp on the cable lift of the gondola lift on Wednesday morning, a temporary bracing loosened in the rope splice area of the hoist rope, whereupon the workers were hit by the conveyor and the rescue rope.
A lift employee has died and six were injured in an accident while maintaining a lift from Titlis Bergbahnen.
As a result, an employee of the Titlis bahnen was so badly injured that he died at the accident site. Two other people involved in the work were severely injured and one person was injured a bit more moderate. There were also three more injured.
The deceased employee was an experienced employee who had been working for the company for 20 years.
Search efforts continue for 8 climbers missing in the Indian Himalayas, but hopes are fading after possible avalanche
Last Update
From CNN.com
A search team has spotted five bodies on an unnamed peak in the Indian Himalayas, where the eight climbers were believed to have gone missing a week ago.
Pithoragarh District Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jogdande said on Monday that the bodies seemed to be partially buried in an avalanche on the peak in different locations.
The analysis of some photographs taken by a helicopter that did an air survey of the area earlier today allowed to identify the bodies.
The operation has stopped by Monday afternoon local time for the day, Jogdande said. Now the authorities are figuring out how to recover the bodies.
On Sunday, helicopter teams saw signs of an avalanche on the peak where the group was thought to have been, according to two state officials. Also, on Monday, a helicopter made a recce of the area and the crew saw a backpack at an elevation of 5,000 meters.
Search efforts continue for 8 climbers missing in the Indian Himalayas, but hopes are fading after possible avalanche
Jogdande said that for sure the missing team has been caught by a “huge avalanche” and that the ‘chances of survival are almost zero now.”
The missing climbers — four Britons, two Americans, an Australian and their Indian liaison officer — went missing in the region of Nanda Devi East, one of the highest peaks in India at just over 7,400 meters (24,000 feet.)
According to group’s expedition company Facebook posts, the group was attempting to climb a previously unclimbed and unnamed peak of about 6,477 meters (21,250 feet)
Indian authorities said on Monday that the climbers had no permission to climb an unnamed peak. Jogdande added that if they had known that the eight climbers were planning on climbing the unnamed peak instead of Nanda Devi East, they “would not have given permission.”
He added that heavy rain and high winds in the area have been hampering the search efforts.
Eight climbers have been missing when climbing Nanda Devi, India’s second tallest mountain at 7,816 meters. The group was supposed to return on May 31, having departed on May 13.
India – Nanda Devi. Search efforts continue for 8 climbers missing in the Indian Himalayas, but hopes are fading after possible avalanche.
They were guided by British Mountain guide Martin Moran, owner of Scottish Moran Mountain tour company, who is an experienced mountain guide and has run numerous expeditions in the Indian Himalayas.
Search efforts started on Saturday, but bad weather conditions forced them to be called off during the evening hours. There are indications that an avalanche may have swept up the team.
The operation resumed on Sunday morning, with the Indian Air Force deploying two helicopters to aid in the search.
An expert skier killed by an avalanche in the Aiguilles rouges and a snowboarder died on the Alpes Maritimes.
A deadly avalanche occurred in the Aiguilles-rouges massif, Haute-Savoie, this Saturday, May 18, 2019. A 33-year-old skier, apparently very experienced, was found dead at 2500 meters altitude.
The Aiguille Rouges seen from Lac Blanc. An expert skier killed by an avalanche in the Aiguilles rouges and a snowboarder died on the Alpes Maritimes.
A skier of high level was killed Saturday, May 18, 2019 in the massif of Aiguilles rouges (Haute-Savoie). It was carried away, it seems, by an avalanche while it came down a corridor “rather steep”, one learned this Sunday near the platoon of gendarmerie of high mountain of Chamonix. He was climbing the North East couloir of Aiguille de Mesure (at 2812 meters) trying to descend the same way when the avalanche occurred. This skier was alone at the time of the avalanche.
The mountain rescue did a preliminary helicopter search and found an ice axe and a ski, before locating the victim, aged 33, partially under the snow 500 meters below at the foot of the needle of Praz-Torrent (2,573 m altitude).
Avalanche kills two in the French Alps near Les 2 Alpes
From: AP – The Sun Herald and Le Dauphine –
French officials say two have died after an avalanche in the Alps near the Deux-Alpes ski resort.
St Christophe-en-Oisans. Photo: Quentin Lagache- Unsplash. Avalanche kills person in French Alps; another missing.
The police unit in charge of setting up the rescue operation and authorities in the Isere region said the avalanche struck late Tuesday morning.
The avalanche struck in on off-piste sector near the small town of Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans.
Update from Le Dauphine:
14 H 05 : The accident occurred outside the landscaped area of Les Deux-Alpes, on an area on the Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans side of La Toura, downstream and south of the Grand Creux breach. (2804 m). Côté Deux-Alpes (on the northern slope), several lifts lead to this sector of off-piste skiing: the chairlifts of Toura and Lac Noir.
Many rescuers are currently working alongside Civil Safety and FAS helicopters. A dog team from the CRS Alpes, two from the resort of Les Deux Alpes and a dog team from Huez are on site. A dozen police officers from the CRS Alpes, trackers and station staff are involved in the research.
Meteo France, in its bulletin snow and avalanche, reports for Tuesday of a risk 3 (scored) on a scale of 5.
7 killed as helicopter and light aircraft crash over the Ruitor Glacier near La Thuile in the Italian Alps.
From CNN and AFP/NST
Emergency services on Saturday found the bodies of two people missing after a helicopter and a small plane collided above a glacier in the Italian Alps the previous day, taking the total number killed to seven.
The crash occurred over the Rutor glacier near La Thuile, in the Aosta Valley, close to northern Italy’s border with France and Switzerland.
7 killed as helicopter and light aircraft crash over the Ruitor Glacier near La Thuile in the Italian Alps. Photo: Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico.
Five people were confirmed dead and two injured on Friday.
The two people who remained missing were found after the search resumed Saturday morning.
Two helicopters were sent up carrying medical personnel and emergency rescue workers to scour the area, the officer said. All those on board the two aircraft are now accounted for.
The helicopter was carrying six people — the pilot, an alpine guide and four passengers who were heli-skiing. Three people were aboard the light aircraft, all of them pilots who were training in mountain flying.
Jammu (Gulmarg) Cable Car Accident: 2 workers died and four injured.
News from NDTV and Greater Kashmir News:
Two workers were killed, and four others were injured on Sunday after a cable car of the Jammu ropeway project where work is going on, crashed during a mock rescue drill, days before it was likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials said.
The crash took place due to some technical snag near Mahamaya temple, a police officer said.
https://youtu.be/Jz-n7OJhnIQ
The executing agency was conducting a mock rescue drill and due to imbalance, one of the trolleys carrying six workers fell down.
One of them, 45-year-old Rakesh Kumar from Bihar, died on the spot. The rest five – Hari Krishan (45), Manjeet Singh (32) and Lovely of West Bengal, Ravinder (30) of Uttar Pradesh, and Engineer Balkirat Singh (32) of Jammu and Kashmir – were rushed to Government Medical College hospital where Mr Krishan died, they said.
Jammu (Gulmarg) Cable Car Accident: 2 workers died and four injured. Gulmarg in Kashmir is a very renown ski area in India by its beautiful landscapes.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik ordered a magisterial inquiry into the accident and announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs. 5 lakh to family of those who died. He also directed the divisional administration to provide free medical treatment to the injured, an official spokesman said.
On the instructions of the Governor, advisor Khurshid Ahmed Ganai and Chief Secretary BVR Subramanyam visited the injured people at the hospital late on Sunday. The Chief Secretary also visited the accident site, the spokesman said.
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