Image: Gerald Lehner
Image: Gerald Lehner
Image: Gerald Lehner
Image: Gerald Lehner
It was the same slope. Only this time it didn’t hit anyone. Five alpinists from the Czech Republic, between 28 and 34 years old, set out on March 8, 2020 from the Seethalerhütte with snowshoes towards the Dachstein summit. As reported, a slab of snow, around 200 meters wide and 400 meters long, came loose at 2,800 meters above sea level and buried the entire group. Nobody survived.
Three years later, another large avalanche released on the route that tourers use to climb to the Dachstein summit. The crack thickness is well over two meters.
Image: Gerald Lehner
“The avalanche came down on Friday. Luckily the weather was so bad that nobody was up there,” says Wilfried Schrempf, landlord of the Seethalerhütte on the Dachstein.
Image: Gerald Lehner
The extent of the avalanche shows pictures taken by the Salzburg mountain rescuer, photographer and journalist Gerald Lehner during a flight over the Hallstatt Glacier on Tuesday morning. The private pilot was with Gerd Frühwirth, who has been collecting weather and avalanche data for GeoSphere Austria (formerly ZAMG) for years. “When this monster snow slab catches you, you hear the angels singing. One more reason to plan the tour correctly and read the avalanche report carefully. And if it doesn’t fit at all: stay at home,” he says.
Image: Gerald Lehner
Avalanche danger currently moderate
The great avalanche danger in Upper Austria has decreased significantly in the past few days. The state’s avalanche warning service is currently calling out level two on the five-level scale – i.e. moderate danger. Below 1500 meters above sea level, the danger is currently low.
The archive report from 2020 to read:
Source: Nachrichten
