Avalanche Near Sölden Ski Resort, Austria, Sweeps Away Dutch Backcountry Group, Killing 3

An avalanche below near Sölden Ski Resort, Austria, struck a group of 17 Dutch backcountry skiers and their four Austrian mountain guides who were on their ascent to the Martin-Busch hut at 2,501 meters (8,205 feet) on Thursday, April 11. The Martin-Busch hut is a popular starting point for further excursions into the Ötztal glacier area. The spot where “Ötzi”, the glacier mummy, was found can be reached from the hut in a day.

According to the press release by the Polizei Tirol (Tyrol police), the group was making their ascent together with four Austrian mountain guides in the Niedertal area in the Sölden county when the avalanche swept away four Dutch tourists shortly before 11 a.m.

Three of the four skiers swept away were pronounced dead at the avalanche site while a fourth was transported by the emergency medical helicopter “Gallus 3” to the hospital in Zams with unspecified injuries. The three deceased are said to be a 60-year-old, a 35-year-old, and a 33-year-old Dutch national. The injured person is a 32-year-old Dutch man.

The avalanche is estimated to have been 180 meters (591 feet) long and 80 meters (262 feet) wide.

The remaining members of the group were evacuated by helicopter from the site. From Vent where the search and rescue teams were stationed, it is about a 9-kilometer (5.6-mile) or 3 hour hike to the Martin-Busch hut.

The search and rescue was held up at times due to risk of follow-on avalanches which had to be mitigated with controlled detonations. The scene was attended by a massive team as it was initially feared that the entire group had been swept away. The team attending the avalanche consisted of three alpine police specialists, three local police teams, mountain rescue teams from Sölden, Obergurgl, Längenfeld, Umhausen, and Gries im Sulztal, six rescue dogs with guides, an alpine emergency doctor, four emergency helicopters, a plice helicopter, the fire departments of Sölden, Vent, Imst, and Innsbruck, the red cross with two ambulances and another emergency doctor as well as the crisis management team with five members.

While the avalanche danger was at Level two out of five, the area is known for its avalanche risk due to the steep pitch of slope and fresh snow had fallen that morning, causing small instabilities in the snowpack. It is not the first fatal avalanche in the area this week. On Tuesday a 19-year-old German teen was killed below the Bärenkopf in Austria. The mayor of Sölden, Ernst Schöpf said in a press conference, “there is simply a lot of snow still high up in the mountains.”