Mother Nature can bring down the hammer in so many ways, but few are as formidable as being caught in the path of a tsunami of snow.

Can anyone be held responsible for the deaths of the more than 100 people whom avalanches kill each year in the Alps? id asked that question of the high alpine police detectives who investigate such incidents. The answer emerges as clues are wrested from the cold hard grip of compacted snow…

First there’s the muffled crack of the snow mass fracturing into a fissure. Then a whooshing sound fills the air as the huge snow slab starts picking up speed on its descent toward the valley. Within seconds three groups of skiers heading down the slope are turned into 23 panicked combatants fighting for their very lives. Those who have an avalanche airbag deploy it. The rest of the skiers try to assume a swimming posture. This may or may not save them, but staying near the surface is virtually their only chance at survival. With its weight and speed, the snow clearly has the upper hand. For the next several miles it washes over everything in its path like a white tsunami before settling upon the floor of the valley. As the noise dies away, the true dimensions of the disaster become apparent: Snow heaped up more than 20 feet high and a quarter of a mile wide. Because of the cold and pressure, the snow mass stiffens to become as hard as concrete. Steel shovels will be needed in order to dig the victims out. And the skiers buried in the snow have just minutes to live…

AN AREA BIGGER THAN GROUND ZERO

Five people perish in this avalanche. Police offi cials inform the next of kin: “Before they hear it from the media,” says Norbert Zobl of the Alpine Police. There are obvious questions that need to be addressed: “What happened?” and “How could such a thing occur?”

“As soon as we have provided first aid, we start looking for the answers,” says Zobl. A police major general, he is deputy director of the Alpine Police Department in the Austrian province of Tyrol. He is responsible for a region where almost half of all the avalanche accidents in the country take place. Each avalanche sets a clock ticking: “Weather conditions on a mountain can change very quickly,” says Zobl. “So we have to work to determine as

accurately and quickly as possible the specific circumstances that prevailed when the incident was taking place.”

For this purpose the entire accident scene, which could cover an area of several square miles, is photographed in great detail. Detectives record the locations and positions of the victims along with the length, height, width, and the nature of the avalanche. The snow is analyzed and witnesses are interviewed: Where were you when the avalanche started? Where were the others? Were you swept up in it? Buried by it? How did you get free? Where were the mountain ski guides? Had they given you clear instructions on what to do if an avalanche occurs? Did they describe all the precautions and safety measures? Did you adhere to them all? How long have you been skiing, and how profi cient are you at it? Were you familiar with the area? And were you familiar with the slope? The investigators record names and dates of birth as well as nationalities. If any of the survivors appears to be in need of psychological counseling, everyone is evacuated from the area first and questioned later.

KEEP DIGGING UNTIL THE POINT OF EXHAUSTION

Every avalanche leaves chaos in its wake—especially in the minds of the people who have lived through them. A typical first reaction: “I’m alive! I’m not buried!” In a best- case scenario, memorized procedures now kick in: Someone calls the mountain rescue team to tell them where the incident occurred. Everyone else turns off their mobile phones since the frequencies can interfere with the search function of avalanche transceivers, which are now switched from “broadcast” to “receive.” Avalanche transceivers are designed to emit and receive signals to help locate anyone buried beneath the snow. As soon as a person has been located, the only thing to do is: Dig, and keep on digging! Or to put it more accurately: Chop away the ice. “Avalanches consist of soft snow only while they are still moving,” says Dr. Rudi Mair, head of Tyrol’s Avalanche Warning Service. “Under pressure the snow is compacted and turns to ice.” The diggers keep on chopping away until they are completely exhausted.

NEGLIGENT INJURY— AT 6,500 FEET

Ideally the emergency call goes right through and the rescue service asks key questions to ascertain the facts: How many people are imperiled, and where are they? Is anyone in mortal danger? Emergency helicopters take off immediately carrying doctors and rescue team personnel…if it’s fl ying weather. But that’s often not the case, even though the pilots are among the best in the world and the Airbus H130 helicopters are specially equipped for mountain missions. At the same time—if there’s any fear of fatalities— the alarm is passed on to the Alpine Police. They too immediately dispatch a helicopter. “We endeavor to reach the scene as quickly as we can,” says Norbert Zobl. And if anyone has died? “We notify the prosecutor’s office so they can launch their investigation.” After all, it may be a case of negligent bodily injury with fatal consequences. So the report must present the snow conditions before and during the event.

In Tyrol, Rudi Mair, the person who must generate this report, is among the first to board the rescue helicopter. The glaciologist and meteorologist is one of the world’s leading avalanche experts. Every day he and his team compile an avalanche report for all of the regions in Tyrol and assign the appropriate warning levels. “When an incident takes place, we first look at the location where the avalanche broke away from the snow beneath. Snow cover is anything but uniform— it is made up of layers. At the bottom is the snow from the beginning of the season, above that the snow that fell two months ago, and so on. The most interesting for us is the layer on which the avalanche snow was resting. How smooth is it? How much pressure can I apply to it before it starts to slide?” All of this information is recorded in a profile that will serve as essential evidence if the matter goes to trial.

HOW A CASE IS DECIDED

If the incident scene is close to a ski run that’s generally considered safe, the operator may be held responsible. If it’s in open terrain, a mountain guide could be at fault due to negligence. “But that’s for prosecutors to gauge,” says Zobl. Avalanches kill an average of 26 people each year in Austria and cause about 150 deaths worldwide. In this case an Austrian court concludes: “In these conditions, entering the area with the ski groups posed a great and incalculable risk. The mountain guide was therefore grossly negligent.”

Sentencing would result in several months of incarceration and a fine of thousands of euros. But generally no one is prosecuted. Skiing will always involve a certain risk that can never be entirely eliminated. “That should be on the mind of anyone considering off-piste skiing in the Alps,” says Zobl. Then why are the police so involved? “The laws apply everywhere—just as much on a mountain slope as in the valley. Our job is to identify the causes of incidents wherever they happen.”