Four skiers have been injured after being hit by an avalanche on Mount Trittkopf, a 2700 m summit near the village of Lech am Arlberg in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The incident happened at about 3.00 pm on Christmas Day (25 December) 2022. Ten skiers were initially reported missing following the incident, but all of them have now been located. One of the injured skiers has been airlifted to a hospital in Innsbruck, but none is thought to have sustained life-threatening injuries.
Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.
See also...
