After the avalanche which killed six people on Sunday on the Armancette glacier in Haute-Savoie, Stéphane Bornet, director of the National Association for Snow and Avalanche Studies, said he was surprised on Monday on franceinfo at “the extent both on the starting area and the length of the flow” and recalls that an “investigation is underway”.
Stéphane Bornet, director of Anena (the National Association for Snow and Avalanche Studies) said he was surprised on Monday April 10 on franceinfo by “the magnitude of this avalanche”, in reference to that which occurred on Sunday April 9 on the Armancette glacier in Haute-Savoie which killed six people according to the final report. More specifically, what surprises the director is “the extent of both the starting area and the length of the flow of this avalanche which is very marked and out of the ordinary”. He judges this avalanche “really exceptional” and adds: “Avalanches of this magnitude are fortunately very rare every winter.”
>> Avalanche in Haute-Savoie: is global warming solely responsible for the tragedy?
Regarding the conditions in which the avalanche was triggered, Stéphane Bornet explains that “on Sunday, the avalanche risk bulletin estimated the danger at a risk of 2 on a scale of 5 levels. It is therefore a relatively limited risk”. However, he points out, “When we talk about limited risk, we are still talking about risk. The mountain is a fantastic playground but it can present pitfalls”.
A “very busy” area
At pAbout the origin of the avalanche, he recalls that an investigation is in progress and that a “a specialist will be dispatched to the area to identify the causes of this accident”. AT the current time, “it seems to be a plate that has slipped under the passage of skiers”. However, no conclusions at this stage: “We don’t know yet what could have happened” but one clarification: “A priori, this avalanche is not linked to global warming. (…) We know that the area, which is not known to be very accident prone, was very busy. The Easter weekend is rather classified as the end of the season weekend and therefore many ski tourers take the opportunity to do their last winter outings before diving into summer activities. For the director it is also “which explains the number of victims”.
View comments
