So far this season there is 75 - 100 deaths in the European alps, this is mainly getting caught in avalanches, hit by rock or ice and falling ( thelocal.fr Times.uk) although the exact number of fatalities is hard to come by as the alps are stretching from France to Austria. It is a significant increase with almost 40 people from previous years.
Is it more dangerous, or are we more reckless ?
Is the rise in lives lost purely a relation to people going off-piste ? Or is it a correlation to the new weather pattern as vicesport suggest ? (Reading the Vice post feels strange for me as a European, although Scandinavia has a different culture than the alp countries. And that the vice post is over-simplifying the matter) As it seems on sales numbers there is now more common to get bindings with touring set-up than without. It is now also hot to go on off-pist holidays rather than resort holidays, as the culture have used to be.
Something that would lead to the opinion that there is now more people going off-piste than before. The odd thing here is that there is a culture to hire guides. And judging by numbers from Pistehores (uncertain source) there is more deaths with guides than without. But with numbers of lives lost coming up in three digits a year it is time to step back and figure out whats going on. Cause it is not alpinists that are dying, it is civilians that are on a recreational holidays with guides. Is this a cultural thing? if so, how do we change it. Should the level to go off-pist be higher ? should the learning curve be longer ? How can you limit access when you have spent 200 years making it into Disneyland for mediocre skiers ? | Norway still possess the earning you turns mentality. limiting your movement in alpine terrain to what you can get up. And of this winter we have 10 deaths in our alps. All touring. but slowly more inexperienced people getting in deep. |