Avalanche winter in Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen: "It's often surprising how awkwardly many go into the mountains"
Created: 05/23/2022, 11:00 am
By: Felicitas Bogner
Avalanches are a danger that should not be underestimated in the mountains in winter.
(symbol photo) © Urs Flueeler / dpa
The responsible protection commission recalled an avalanche on Schönberg near Lenggries in its winter review.
One development surprised the experts.
Bad Heilbrunn
- "One thing in advance, there is not much to report, because it was a quiet winter," said Alexander Bauer from the Tölz district office at the final meeting of the avalanche warning service in the "Reindlschmiede" in Bad Heilbrunn.
Christoph Hummel from the avalanche center of the Bavarian State Office for the Environment gave a short review.
While there was quite a bit of fresh and snowdrift snow in the Bavarian Alps at the beginning of December – in line with the opening of the ski season – January was quite snow-poor.
In February there was a stormy phase.
March was relatively rain-free.
A jacket that flies away triggers a slab of snow on the Schönberg
Nevertheless, the snow conditions would have led to isolated accidents - around mid-December on Schönberg near Lenggries.
A person wanted to retrieve a jacket that had been blown away and triggered a slab of snow on the southern slope below the summit.
The person was dragged down about 150 meters, but was lucky and was shoveled out largely unharmed.
There were only two significant new snow events in the past winter season.
Both, however, in connection with hurricane-force winds, reported Hummel.
As a result, there was a fatal avalanche accident on the Wendelstein (we reported nationwide) and on February 5th a slab avalanche on the Prinzkopf in the Vorkarwendel.
It was triggered by a ski tourer who was traveling in a group while descending the steep north face.
The athlete was swept away and buried under the masses of snow.
However, his comrades were able to locate him at a depth of about one meter and dig him out unharmed.
New app helps to recognize avalanche danger
During the meeting, Hummel also introduced a novelty to the Bavarian avalanche commission: the new app "La.Dok" (avalanche warning and documentation tool) for smartphones.
Here, members can easily enter assessments of the current situation, which can then be checked more closely and can result in warnings.
Last winter there were already 2,000 entries in the app.
Hummel attributed this to the “simple and intuitive operation of the tool”.
“Careless behavior is often the cause of accidents”
Despite the increasing number of winter sports enthusiasts and tourers, "relatively little is happening," was Hummel's conclusion.
In addition, he wanted to draw attention to the fact that there was no loss in areas monitored by the avalanche warning service.
He still wants to appeal to all athletes not to go unprepared into demanding terrain and to equip themselves accordingly.
"Unfortunately, poor equipment, mistakes due to ignorance and careless behavior are still often the causes of accidents."
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Andreas Rohrhofer, deputy head of the Tölz police inspection, agreed with him on this point.
He is often amazed at how insecure and clumsy many people are when out and about in the mountains.
He also reminds - although without avalanche involvement - of the fatal fall of a young woman on the Herzogstand in February.
“She probably knew the hike from the summer months.
But there are massive differences in the alpine terrain in winter.” A certain respect for the dangers in the mountains is important.
District Administrator thanks avalanche commission for tireless efforts
District Administrator Josef Niedermaier was also present at the meeting.
He thanked all representatives of the avalanche commissions for their "important and tireless efforts".
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.
