This is an increase compared to the previous year, when 272 people died, the Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety announced on Wednesday. The long-term average results in an identical number of victims, it said. The number of people injured in alpine accidents increased much more clearly – namely from 5,300 in 2021 to 8,426 now (ten-year average: 7,579).
More slope accidents again
The latter is primarily related to the fact that almost half of the accident victims – namely 45 percent – can be traced back to piste and ski route accidents, the board of trustees said when asked. And such accidents were logically not so numerous in the Corona years, including 2021, due to the comparatively lower number of winter sports enthusiasts. A total of 12,723 casualties and 8,905 accidents were registered last year.
Tyrol as the sad leader
As in previous years, the unfortunate leader among the federal states in terms of fatalities was Tyrol. 118 people died in the state. It was followed by Salzburg with 39 and Styria with 32. Almost all fatalities came from Europe, 172 from Austria. Meanwhile, there was a clear excess of men: 241 men and 45 women had fatal accidents on the mountain. In the case of the injured, however, the ratio was more balanced with 57 percent men and 42 percent women.
14 dead by avalanches
With 102 fatalities, most died while hiking and mountaineering. The “discipline” piste/ski route followed with 42 deaths. Incidentally, 27 percent of those recorded did not die while practicing an alpine sport, but rather in forest accidents, with vehicles on mountain paths or by suicide in the mountains. 14 winter sports enthusiasts lost their lives under avalanches last year. Traditionally, however, the number of avalanche deaths is not listed separately in the annual balance, but instead the individual winter seasons are used.
According to the board of trustees, the majority of those killed in the mountains were between 51 and 80 years old. In contrast, there is a more even distribution across all age groups in the case of accident victims. Although the number of deaths on the slopes is usually highest in July, August and September, in 2022 March had the highest number of fatalities (36), of which 14 were on slopes or ski routes.
As in previous years, falls and the like are not the main cause of death on the mountain, but cardiovascular disorders (24 percent). 70 people died in 2022 due to so-called “internal emergencies” in Austria’s mountains, eleven more than the ten-year average. 16 percent of the victims (49 deaths) died as a result of falling, stumbling or “slipping” and 34 percent each were attributable to falls and suicide.
Source: Nachrichten
