Snow Report

The announced snowstorm ended up being stronger than expected. The amount of snow in Bakhmaro is not unusual, but the low temperatures meant that the snow chaos spread to lower altitudes. There was even snow on the beach. Many places are still cut off from the outside world.

Our snowcats provided support to supply cut off places with food and medicine. In Bakhmaro, the snow combined with the fairly strong wind has led to a very high risk of avalanches.

The influence of the wind is clearly visible, there are large drifting snow fields, waves and the cornices have also grown.

The week was marked by down days and a lot of snowfall. The deep snow was not easy to ski, deep holes around trees and rocks required a lot of attention and high waves marked free slopes. But in the right locations it was the best powder...

Some groups used the down days for a kicker session, other groups did extensive avalanche training. On these days, however, very limited access was also given to very short, safe slopes (from the helipad and the second Magtikom antenna into the short forests).

The situation was different for our freeriders. When the avalanche was level 4, they had a picnic in a designated avalanche zone. When the avalanche came, luckily 2 of the cats from different freeriders had just left. The third cat was completely destroyed. The two groups that were still in the immediate vicinity were able to rescue the freeriders from the destroyed cat. Fortunately, again, there were only injuries.

Stay safe! It is better to spend a little more money on professional organizers than to play Russian roulette.