For four ski tourers from Germany ended an excursion in the Swiss Valais deadly. At 3110 meters, they were buried by an avalanche on Friday.
In Switzerland, four German ski hikers died in an avalanche loss. The group had not returned on Friday from a trip to the area of the greenhorn gap (municipality Fieschertal), said the canton police Wallis.
Search was interrupted due to the weather
A custodian had alarmed the rescue workers on Friday, it was said by the cantonal police. That same evening, a first search flight was started. Several avalanches were discovered, but not at first. It was not until the afternoon that the bodies of the four tourers were found at an altitude of 3,110 meters between the Grünhornlücke mountain pass and the Konkordia hut. Special search devices allowed the location under the snow masses.
Meter deep buried under snow
The group had been hit by the avalanche during the descent through a narrow mountain channel, said Bergretter Reinhard Bittel, who was involved in the recovery. „They were almost surprised from behind.“ The tourers were therefore buried between one and four feet deep under snow.
A spokesman for the German Alpine Club (DAV) said that the victims were members of the DAV section Dusseldorf. They were not in the context of a tour organized by the Alpine Club. At least two of the victims, according to the DAV spokesman, were very experienced.
This winter, 19 people have already died in avalanches in the Swiss mountains, reported the news agency sda, citing the State Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research.
