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A huge portion of a glacier in the Swiss Alps has broken off from the mountainside, sending rock, mud and ice crashing onto the village of Blatten. Authorities have been warning of a potential collapse of the Birch glacier for weeks now as cracks appeared in the ice. Earlier this month, villagers and livestock were evacuated from Blatten, which sits in the valley below the glacier and is home to around 300 people. Webcam and drone images from 28 May show enormous plumes of dust billowing into the Alpine valley as the glacier collapsed, with a huge wave of mud...

The bodies of five skiers have been found by rescuers near Switzerland's luxury Zermatt resort. They were recovered a day after emergency services were alerted by a group of climbers ascending the Rimpfischhorn - a 4,199-metre peak in the Valais Alps - to several pairs of skis left unattended near the summit. Aerial and ground searches led to the discovery of the bodies below the summit on the Adler Glacier, Valais local police said in a statement on Sunday. The victims were found at varying altitudes on avalanche debris in high altitude areas near the Swiss-Italian border. Three bodies were...

For a growing number of people who ski and snowboard out of bounds and in the backcountry, the daily avalanche forecasts written by the Sierra Avalanche Center provide crucial, life-saving information about the stability of the snowpack and the risk of avalanches in Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada. But the Sierra Avalanche Center announced this week that due to ongoing staff cuts by the federal government, it may have no choice but to cut back on the number of forecasts it issues. The center currently works with three forecasters who are employed by the U.S. Forest Service. They cover...

Professional snowboarder Sophie Hediger was killed in an avalanche while snowboarding in her native Switzerland on Monday. The 26-year-old competed as part of the Swiss national team in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing and was a known figure on the international snowboard racing circuit. "The tragic death of Sophie Hediger has cast a dark shadow over the Christmas holidays. We are immeasurably sad," Walter Reusser, CEO of Swiss-Ski, Switzerland's ski federation, said in an online statement posted Tuesday. The incident resulting in Hediger's death occurred when she and a companion had gone snowboarding in the town of Arosa, in the...

<p>An avalanche forecaster died in a snowslide he triggered while skiing in eastern Oregon last week, officials said.</p><p>Nick Burks, 37, and a friend — both experienced skiers and carrying avalanche air bags and beacons — were backcountry skiing the chute on Gunsight Mountain on Wednesday, near Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort.</p>

Donald Trump urged the Republican party to unite behind him so he could 'take the country' back from Joe Biden after decimating his rivals in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night. The former president, 77, praised all of his fellow candidates and paid tribute to his family - including Melania's late mother-in-law - as he spoke to supporters after his 30-point win in the first primary contest. It took just half an hour for Trump's landslide victory to be called as thousands of his die-hard supporters turned up to vote in sub-zero temperatures and wind chills as low as minus...

Russia's UN Ambassador concerned tonight that the US and Allied nations will launch military action against Yemen. This after a resolution condemning Yemeni... At least one killed and others hurt in the Lake Tahoe region of California a massive avalanche... "Total Anarchy" It's now Thursday morning in Papua New Guinea where violence broke out when members of the police and military went on strike... In Ohio a successful override vote in the state House of Representatives. The vote overturns Republican Governor Mike DeWine's... US politics former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie out of the 2024... "no intention of permanently occupying...

Rescue teams are searching for potential victims at a famous ski resort near Lake Tahoe after an avalanche. Palisades Tahoe said its patrol and mountain operations teams were searching the area after the avalanche, which occurred at about 9:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, shortly after ski lifts typically open. The Placer County sheriff’s office tweeted it was also responding to the avalanche.

The trio were among a group of six people attempting to scale part of Colchuck Peak when the lead climber triggered the snow slide, according to local authorities. Four climbers were swept about 500 feet down the steep mountain, sheriff officials said. The three who died were a 60-year-old New York woman, a 66-year-old man from New Jersey and a 53-year-old Connecticut man, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said. A 56-year-old man from New York sustained non-life threatening injuries and was able to get down to the base camp. Two other survivors weren’t hurt, the sheriff’s office said. [Chelan County...

American professional freestyle skier and former world champion Kyle Smaine died after getting caught in an avalanche in Japan Sunday, his newlywed wife has confirmed. The 31-year-old Lake Tahoe, California-based pro skier was one of five foreign nationals from the US and Austria who were swept in the avalanche while back-country skiing in the central prefecture of Nagano, Japan, around 2:30 p.m. local time Sunday. Shortly before his death, Smaine shared a video on Instagram showing him skiing during a marketing trip to Japan. The deadly avalanche took place on the eastern slope of Mount Hakuba, Nagano police said. Smaine...

mmigrants denied entry to the US are amassing on the Mexican side of the southern border, preparing for the end of Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that barred migrants from entering the country. Venezuelan asylum seeker Samuel Guerra told The Post he plans to be among an “avalanche” of immigrants he predicts will enter the US. He’s currently living in a tent city of mostly Venezuelans half a football field away from El Paso, Texas — with only the Rio Grande and Title 42 standing between him and the US. A federal judge ended the Trump-era policy — used to...

At least 10 people have been killed and many more are missing after an avalanche struck a team of mountaineers high in the Indian Himalayas. The 34 trainees and seven instructors were practising navigation when they were hit on their descent from a peak in the northern state of Uttarakhand. Police say 14 people have been rescued, while nearly 20 are still missing. Earlier reports said the party had been swept into a crevasse. India's air force is helping with rescue efforts. The group was made up of trainees from the nearby Nehru Institute of Mountaineering. It said they had...

Incredible video shows an avalanche of rocks and snow cascading down a mountain in Kyrgyzstan directly toward the hiker filming the spectacle. A group of 10 tourists - nine Brits and one American - who were caught in the avalanche in the Tian Shan mountains managed to avoid serious injury, but ended up with a great story and astonishing footage. Advertisement "It was only later we realised just how lucky we'd been," wrote Harry Shimmin. "If we had walked 5 minutes further on our trek, we would all be dead." Shimmin's video of the avalanche has racked up 900,000 views...

An avalanche has killed five people in the Austrian state of Tyrol on Friday, state police have said. The avalanche occurred near the Austrian-Swiss border in the Spiss municipality, Tyrol’s emergency control center confirmed on Friday afternoon. A sixth person is reported to have suffered minor injuries. The fifth victim, who had initially been reported missing, was later confirm to have died. The identities and nationalities of the victims have not yet been released. At least 31 separate avalanches had been reported as of Friday afternoon, officials said. Four of these avalanches, including one that occurred near Solden and another...

Usually in mid-August, Greenland’s surface mass balance (SMB) is LOSING 4 Gigatons of snow & ice a day. Not yesterday, however — on Aug 10, 2020, the ice sheet GAINED a record-smashing 4 Gigatons of global warming goodness (and just listen to the silence coming from the MSM, it has so much to say). Before this year, the Greenland ice sheet had never grown anywhere-close to 4 Gigatons in any of the months of June, July, or August, according to DMI records (which go back to 1981). In addition, the DMI record books also reveal that yesterday’s 4 Gt GAIN...

A 12-year-old girl was found alive after she was buried under snow for 18 hours when an avalanche in Pakistan-administered Kashmir engulfed the family house. Rescuers have been racing against time to reach scores of people believed still to be trapped inside their homes, buried under avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall. The worst affected area was Kashmir's Neelum Valley, where the 21 bodies were retrieved, said Ahmad Raza Qadri, a minister for disaster management. He said that since Sunday, 76 people have been killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in weather-related incidents.

At least two people were injured and “a number” of people buried when an swept down a ski slope in Andermatt, Switzerland, state police said Thursday. “We believe there are more people buried but we can’t say how many,” Reto Pfister, state police spokesperson in the Swiss canton of Uri, told NBC News. The police first received reports of the avalanche at 10:50 a.m. (4:50 a.m. ET). Emergency services including Alpine Rescue Switzerland, Swiss Air Ambulance and the state police were involved in the ongoing rescue operation. A video posted on the Swiss news website site Blick showed a swath...

Three of the world's most elite climbers are missing and presumed dead by park officials after an avalanche in Alberta, Canada. Jess Roskelley, a U.S. citizen, and David Lama and Hansjörg Auer, who are both Austrian, had been attempting to climb the east face of Howse Peak in Banff National Park. They were reported overdue on Wednesday, according to the park. "Based on an assessment of the scene, all three members of the party are presumed to be deceased," the park said. A statement from Parks Canada said that responders "observed signs of multiple avalanches and debris containing climbing equipment."...

An avalanche at Mammoth Mountain early Saturday forced the closure of the popular ski area and triggered search and rescue efforts, officials said. There were no reports of serious injuries or missing people, but emergency crews were activated, officials said.{snip} "Shortly before the slide, that area was very crowded," Maynard said. "Essentially, the top of the mountain came loose in a major avalanche."{snip} "We hiked about 15 minutes to the parking lot, where local emergency mayhem had broken out," Williams said. "There were people trying to get out any way they could; some were waiting for buses, others were sharing...

An avalanche prompted the closure of the Squaw Valley ski resort in Northern California Friday. The Placer County Sheriff's Department tweeted that it appears that all skiers and snowboarders had been accounted for. KCRA Reporter Tom Miller posted dramatic video of snowboarders and skiers digging out a man buried under snow.