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Verbier, Switzerland is a freeride Mecca. It’s the birthplace of the Freeride World Tour. The terrain is unparalleled. It can also be dangerous, a place where real, high-alpine danger exists and it’s in your face. Which can be especially true after lots of new snow.
Snowboarder Victor Liebenguth made that point extremely visual for viewers on social media this week (even though he admits to disliking that sort of content). But it’s a way for the rest of us to learn.
Thursday, 30th of January was a hard day, almost one meter of powder (three feet) landed on a four weeks dry terrain, the avalanche risk was so high (4/5). We were riding some snug couloirs in @verbier area when we saw an important avalanche going down next door Creblet pass. Maybe 10 people riding at the same time, on the same face. No security precautions at all. Unfortunately, two girls were snowboarding in the middle of the face and the avalanche hit them so hard. We were the first on-site and immediately started to do the beacon research. We quickly found the first one, the second one was 70m down the face and quickly rescued as well. While digging out the girls, people around continued to ski in every direction and the inevitable happened, the second avalanche hit the area and a third person got stuck in it. Fuck that was scary.
“Usually not a big fan of watching that kind of content on the socials but I hope this will help a bit in motivating people to get educated,” he continued.
As you can see, the avalanche had an effect on Liebenguth. Slides can happen inbounds. We examined the phenomenon of inbounds (and sidecountry) avalanches last week after four people were killed this year and two last in North America (read here.) One of the biggest pieces of advice from avalanche experts about riding steep inbounds terrain that could slide is to read local avalanche reports before going out, even if you’re riding lifts all day. And carrying the proper equipment is always paramount. Know if you’re riding terrain that could slide. Be aware. Victor and his crew did an admirable job helping these victims out.
