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Field trip that almost ended in disaster

featured in News & reviews Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

Following on from yesterday's story of the avalanche that came down above Taconnaz, near Chamonix, it has now been confirmed that thankfully there were no casualties. However, 15 glaciology students and their teacher had a very close shave after they ignored the avalanche warning signs and skipped past barriers in order to explore the glacial melt water and surrounding areas when the avalanche broke. Two of the students were on the paravalanche barrier looking on in horror as 400 000m3 of snow and ice came crashing towards them. "We saw what looked like a flow of lava coming towards us from above" said one shocked student. Miraculously none of them were hurt or taken by the slide.

It is believed the avalanche was triggered by falling seracs at around 4000m on the Dome du Goutier. This particular couloir hasn't avalanched all winter hence the huge volume of snow that came down. However, there was concern that the slide had managed to pass the bottom of the protection barriers before coming to a halt in the torrent where the students had been conducting experiments in the water. The paravalanche barriers are built to contain 1.6 million m3 of snow, in order to protect the houses 100m beyond. Arial rescue services confirmed that there was nobody else underneath the snow whilst local pompiers treated two of the students for shock.

Credit: Dauphine Libere