Avalanches in Europe

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationwor...html?syndication=rss

This one also had a "rescue doctor" as one of the victims so there must have been a 2nd avalanche down the same spot as the original one.

Scotland, which has been getting decent snow for the 1st time in decades, has also been hit with 3 avalanche related deaths over the holiday period. Lack of awareness plays a bigger role in Scotland due to the perceived lesser danger since not as much snow falls there. Surface hoar, a very rare occurance in Scotland as the weather is usually crappy not cold and sunny, was to blame.

Three climbers also killed last season there and the snow pack is one a couple feet at best.

Do you have a link to the Scottish avy deaths. Like to see where they occured.
I agree with your surface hoar statement.
Never saw the stuff in all my time trudging around the Scottish Mountains. Saw lots of rime though!

2 climbers were killed on gully #3 on Ben Nevis and another on the Liathath in Torridon. Fantasic mountain, been up it a few times but I also had a buddy who was in a group in an avalanche there 15 years ago that killed 1 so it can be a really dangerous place in the winter.

Links on the BBC website news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/hig..._islands/8436443.stm

Just having come back from the French Alps on Sunday we checked online today and found there were a bunch more incidents. One avy last week killed three people (including a guide) who reportedly even had ABS balloon packs on. It sounds like a huge slide, 1000 meters wide and 10 meters thick. And if you read around a bit there's been a couple of other incidents with 5-8 people caught.

More reports here:  avy news

While we were there we saw evidence of a bunch of inbounds slides when skiing at La Cluzaz. It had warmed up and was raining and while traveling up the lifts over closed pistes there were many slide paths. It was very sobering and kept me from ducking ropes, at least that day. Funny though, looking back after reading these reports I feel pretty lucky to have avoided trouble. Within a few days of seeing those slide paths I was skiing  off piste freshies with no avy gear and no real analysis. We were mostly only slightly off piste but still in avy terrain; feel kinda stupid now...