If you are going to ski this weekend, just to enjoy the bright sun, you will no doubt see it. These skiers and snowboarders, young and old, will pass under the rope marking a closed sector. Prohibition signs, avalanche danger, it’s for others. They only dream of offering themselves a beautiful trace in the freshly fallen powder. Disregarding the possible consequences.
It was perhaps one of these unconscious people who started the snowfall which crossed a marked trail on Thursday morning in the Andermatt ski area. The investigation is just beginning. Justice, which hardly accommodates the notion of fatality, will take the time it will take to identify the person or persons responsible for this accident. Miraculously, they will not have a dead man on their conscience, since the avalanche only caused two minor injuries. But any conviction remains heavy to bear.
Also read: An avalanche on a slope? “It’s bad luck!”
Just ten years ago, on December 27, 2009, a similar case occurred in Anzère. He remained famous because the three freeride enthusiasts who caused the run which buried two people on a track below – luckily found safe and sound – lost their fight at the Federal Court. The judges found them guilty of obstructing public traffic by negligence. Given their experience, the signs in place and their knowledge of the degree of danger, they should not have entered the slope in question. It doesn’t matter if it has been secured beforehand.
“The work done by the piste security services does not offer an absolute guarantee”
This verdict relieved the operators of the Valais station, initially held responsible for the accident. He especially reminds us that the daily work done by the piste security services does not offer an absolute guarantee. Even if the corridors bordering the signposted areas have been subject to preventive releases, the risk remains.
Keep this in mind when putting on your slats. As intoxicating as advertising messages are, a ski area is not an area of freedom. It is a sometimes unpredictable environment, the rules of which must be respected.
Created: 27.12.2019, 11:16 p.m.
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