A 32-year-old German snowboarder who fell headfirst into deep snow, suffocated Wednesday (February 6, 2013) at the Salzburg’s Saalbach-Hinterglemm, according to a story in the Austrian Independent.
Before the lifts closed down at Reiterkogel, a group of snowboarders went off slope. The German was the last one of the group and got stuck in a trench where, according to the Alpine police, up to four metres of fresh snow had accumulated. . .There, the man fell down – head first – and could obviously not support his weight anywhere. Thus, he was not able to breathe. . . His friends quickly realized that he was missing, started searching for him and called the lift attendants.
A doctor who flew in with the rescue helicopter “could not resuscitate the man,” according to the story. It sounds very similar to the British snowboarder who died in December at Chamonix. Our thoughts are with the man’s family and friends.
[Link: Austrian Independent]
