Snowless winter results in fewer avalanche deaths in Swiss Alps

An avalanche was reported on the Pazolastock mountain at an altitude of 2,550 metres, near Tujetsch, canton Graubünden, on December 28, 2022. L. Braun

Fifteen people died in avalanches in the Swiss Alps this winter, which was much warmer and drier than normal with average snow depths well below average.

By March 31, 15 avalanche fatalities had been recorded in 12 avalanches, according to the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF).External link The average number of fatalities by the end of March is 17.

There was increased avalanche activity in the second half of December as well as in the first half of January and February. But due to low snow cover and rare snowfall, avalanche activity was relatively low from January to early March, the institute said.

Later in March, abundant precipitation over a large part of the territory, combined with a fragile old snowpack, led to persistent critical avalanche situations and numerous avalanche accidents. 

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The weather was much warmer and drier than normal in the Swiss Alps. High altitudes (above 2,000 metres) were covered in snow at the beginning of November. But between 1,000-2,000m snowfall was limited. Low altitudes (below 1,000m) saw snow only a few days in mid-December, at the end of January and in March.

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Over the whole of the winter, average snow depths were well below average.

“Between mid-February and mid-March, the snow depths in the Swiss Alpine area have never been so low since the start of the measurements,” the SLF said.

Over the past 20 yearsExternal link, there has been an average of 100 reported avalanches per year involving people in Switzerland. On average, 23 people die in avalanches annually, the majority (90%) in open mountainous areas involving off-piste skiing, snowboarding, or backcountry touring on skis or snowshoes. In controlled areas (roads, railways, communities and secured ski runs) the 15-year annual average number of victims dropped from 15 at the end of the 1940s to less than one in 2010. The last time anyone died in a building hit by an avalanche was in 1999.