Nature's Deadly Whim

"We managed to force a door in our snowbound prison. Then, using our skis as shovels, we dug our way out. Don't ask me how--it was like little blind animals digging out of a molehill."

The "molehill," in this case, was a towering wall of snow that had torn loose from Switzerland's 11,532-ft. Gelmihorn just before dawn one day last week and roared into a group of buildings near the village of Reckingen. Some 50 sleeping occupants were buried in a 40-ft. mound of snow. The canton's rescue squad rushed to the scene with snow-sounding poles and dogs, but its efforts were hampered by a howling blizzard. The eventual toll: 30 dead, 18 injured, most of them officers of a Swiss army unit that had been practice-shooting on the mountain the previous day.

Freakish Weather. It was Switzerland's worst single avalanche disaster since 1749, and one of the latest in a series of giant slides that have already made many of Europe's towering mountain ranges more perilous this winter than at any time since World War II. More than 100 persons have been killed by falling snow in France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria.

On the same day as the Swiss tragedy, another hurtling snow mass engulfed six chalets and two hotels in the French village of Lanslevillard on the French-Italian border, killing eight and injuring ten. That slide occurred just 30 miles from Val d'Isere, the home town of Skier Jean-Claude Killy, where 42 people were killed last month when a massive slab of snow thundered into a youth hostel. Still another series of avalanches last week caused nine deaths in the Austrian Tyrol, and three more died in Italy's Apennine Range about 100 miles southeast of Rome.

Freakish weather conditions throughout Alpine Europe have been responsible for most of the slides. Since early February, nearly 200 inches of new snow have fallen on some parts of the Alps, and intermittent thaws have loosened its grip in many places. Blizzards have also caused sliding; the sound of the avalanche at Reckingen, for example, could not even be heard above the shriek of 70-m.p.h. winds. Avalanche warnings have been common all winter, especially in Switzerland, which has the world's best detection facilities (see SCIENCE). Even so, few residents pay much attention to them. Says one expert: "It's nature's whim and we have to live with it."

The avalanches have sent more than a normal winter chill through resort operators. The potential threat to France's booming ski industry was deemed serious enough to open a government inquiry. It will determine, among other things, whether France should upgrade its modest detection system, now run by the weather service, and whether too many resorts are built along the natural paths of snowslides.

Generally, however, ski enthusiasts are proving difficult to scare off. In Austria's famed Arlberg skiing center, where vacationers have been stranded by avalanches that covered both roads and railroad tracks, authorities have sent in helicopters to evacuate those who want to leave. For every skier who pays the $14 tab for a ride out, another happily antes up the same fare to get in.

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