Posted on 05/01/2018 3:23:41 PM PDT by BBell
GENEVA — An unexpected snowstorm coupled with high winds killed four climbers in the Swiss Alps and left five others in critical condition early Monday after they became trapped overnight and couldn’t reach shelter, officials said.
A total of 14 hikers from France, Germany and Italy were left stranded in the Pigne d’Arolla region, police in southwestern Valais canton said. Authorities deployed seven helicopters as part of rescue efforts.
The climbers were caught off-guard by high winds, snow and bitter cold, and were forced to spend the night outdoors, Valais police spokesman Markus Rieder said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
This guy was a hockey player who disappeared on a ski trip in Austria back in 1989 and was never seen alive again. His car was found parked at the resort, and the reports of his fate ranged from something as ordinary as a ski accident on a backcountry trail ... to something as outlandish as an abduction ... to something even more outlandish like a deliberate disappearance as a double agent for a Warsaw Pact intelligence agency.
They found his body 14 years later under a layer of receding ice and snow not far from the ski lodge. Based on the extent of his injuries, the most likely explanation for his demise was that he had been hit by a snow grooming machine while returning to the lodge in the dark, and buried in the snow for almost 15 years.
They had an episode of Archer that spoofed this.
Cold war strange.
I have seen it but couldn’t remember the name immediately. George Kennedy was in that also - I remember him as a bad guy? It’s been years so I don’t recall much about the story.
Clint Eastwood was a good actor but reading books about him, he had the morals of an alley cat...7 children with 5 women (even that isn’t for sure) and I think he was only married to 2 of them.. He sure was a handsome devil when he was younger....
I don’t know what a man like that is called but I know what we women call a woman like that...
George was mostly a good guy. Rewatch and you will remember.
Haven’t seen it in years. Just put it in the DVD queue. Appreciate reminders of good old movies.
An Archer reference doesnt necessarily mean the original is bad.
My adult sons like Archer. The quote I remember from an Archer episode was about some relative using their family medicine cabinet like a Pez dispenser. Reminds me of a certain errant in-law... but that’s another story.
One would hope none of them had young kids, but, sadly, that is not likely the case, as many people are THAT SELFISH.
Its an homage.
The high mountains are beautiful but unforgiving.
I was reading somewhere that Eastwood did all of his own stunts in that movie, and a couple of guys were either killed or seriously injured because he wanted authenticity. That aside, it was a great film.
I remember that, too. Still. some trick photography must have been involved, like that training climb with George Kennedy.
I read that they found a dummy used in one of the fatal falls in that movie decades later, and first thought it was an actual climbing fatality.
Did they find a stranger there?
Adult language warning.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=find%20a%20stranger%20in%20the%20alps
If they were not killed by an avalanche, it simply means they were ill prepared hikers, with no adequate clothes and surviving techniques.
The European Alps can give pleasant surprises, where you can make in a one-day climb up and down a reputedly difficult moutaintop in sandals (lots of tracks, lots of refuges) and feel you are the king of the world instead of admitting this was just because of lucky weather. It’s a very populated region compared to many other mountain ranges and that gives a false sense of security.
In before or after they deserved it for being risk takers and shouldn’t put mountain rescue guys at risk
Not when you can sit at home and pound on your iPad..lol
I was near the top of Uncompaghre in August 1977 and it snowed a foot or more
We didn’t care ....stoned and having a blast at 13,000 plus
I tried to drive over Pearl Pass tween Crested Butte and Aspen in my FJ last late June and a big snow blocked us off
“the Eiger Sanction”:
I think I like George Kennedy in that movie more than Clint, even.
I have never felt so alive as when I was way high up above the treeline, alone, hiking towards some peak, and knowing I could die if I broke my ankle.
Since you are here, I have to add:
When I was 26 my goal was to climb Mt. Whitney, solo, and take a puff of pot at the top, 14,496 feet.
You know, just so I could say I did it.
I did it. It was lame. Just made me super fatigued for the trip down, which I did in complete darkness.
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