Cheget incidents. An avalanche occurred on the slope of the Caucasus Mountain Cheget in Russia: seven skiers were killed. Is it possible to secure the slopes of Cheget

"Northern Circus"

The avalanche descended from the northern slope of Mount Cheget around noon in the place that the skiers themselves call the “Northern Circus”. These are off-piste routes where skiing is strictly prohibited precisely because of the high avalanche danger.

The winter was light, but frosty. But at the end of February (23rd and 26th) there were heavy snowfalls in the Elbrus region, then there was a wind that carried the snow masses accumulated on the slope, and then a sharp warming. All these weather conditions created the conditions for an avalanche.

Judging by numerous videos posted on social networks, she covered a distance of hundreds of meters in just a matter of seconds. Let's say, Muscovite Alexander Tumashev's friends slid down the couloir of the northern slope literally five minutes before the avalanche slope. In a video he posted on Facebook, he can be heard calling friends and shouting into the phone: “You idiots! Run, there's an avalanche above you! Two dudes were blown away there!”

ATTENTION! THE VIDEO USES DEFAMATORY VOCABULARY!

According to eyewitnesses, the height of the snow cover in the area of ​​the so-called “Chicken Paw” (this is one of the places on the ridge known to skiers that borders the “Northern Circus” chute) was up to two meters.

Investigative authorities will still be looking into the circumstances of the incident. But it is already obvious that freerider skiers went skiing on their own, and without a specially trained and experienced guide. As even Cheget regulars admit, this is akin to playing “Russian roulette” - an avalanche can happen at any second.

The guide, as a rule, allows you to synchronize skiing of different groups on the same slope. For example, if some skiers (or snowboarders) make a traverse (that is, an oblique fast descent), while others at that moment are riding along the upper part of the slope, then they can provoke an avalanche on those skiing below.

In addition, an experienced guide from among local residents always monitors changing weather conditions and the movement of snow masses. This means he knows those areas on the slope where the avalanche danger is highest.

However, the majority of skiers who are actively discussing what happened on Cheteg agree on one thing - the victims themselves are to blame for skiing in the prohibited area.

Who is more dangerous: extreme sports enthusiasts or “coat wearers”?

Many “coats” (as experienced skiers contemptuously call beginners) on social networks began to discuss the version that the avalanche control service should have been obliged to fire at the northern slope of Cheget in advance in order to ensure the descent of a dangerous avalanche. And since they didn’t fire, it means that they are indirectly to blame for the death of seven skiers...

Skier Vasily Dobrokhotov categorically disagrees with this: according to him, the chute of the so-called “Northern Circus” is not serviced by the avalanche service at all. After all, this is an area closed to skiing, and only extreme sports enthusiasts ride here, for whose sake no one will undertake expensive shelling of the mountain slopes. A rare exception, according to Dobrokhotov, is when large avalanches coming from the northern slope of Cheget can pose a danger to the village of Terskol.

Another Muscovite who rides Cheget, Natalya Rusakova, agrees with Dobrokhotov. “The avalanche service is a federal service with its own tasks and its own budget. Their task is to protect regular residential areas, tourist centers, gas pipelines, roads and so-called “certified” routes under supports from avalanches,” says Rusakova.

The vast majority of skiers share this opinion. They ask not to shift responsibility for what happened to the avalanche service, and especially to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Those same “coat skiers” who found themselves on Cheget for the first time might be confused by the absence of fences and nets limiting the prohibited skiing areas (as is customary, say, in the Alps). Although there are always warning signs along the routes. But someone may not pay attention to them... but they will see traces going off the highway. And he will follow them.

At the same time, it is worth noting that among those killed in Cheget there was not a single novice skier. One of them is 29-year-old Muscovite Alexander Ivanov, better known in the extreme community as Primus. He rode a motorcycle, snowboarded, and flew a paraglider... He left behind a wife and four children, and now the athletes he knows have announced a fundraiser to help his family.

Another victim was 30-year-old Oksana Sannikova from Nizhny Novgorod, also a professional athlete (bronze medalist of the Russian Women's Ice Hockey Championship).

Is it possible to secure the slopes of Cheget?

And not only Cheget, but also other Caucasian peaks favored by extreme sports enthusiasts? Of course, it is impossible to surround all permitted ski areas with a wall: it is too expensive. But it is quite possible to engage in educational work. Which, according to the skiers themselves, is not enough yet.

Vasily Dobrokhotov gives the example of Japan: at the Niseko ski resort (Hokkaido island) all freeride access (extreme, off-piste skiing) is closed with special nets in which gates are made. When avalanche conditions allow, these gates are opened by rescuers. The European experience, Dobrokhotov reminds, is different: here at ski resorts, avalanche danger flags are hung along the slopes - from yellow to black. So that every rider can voluntarily assess all risks.

Stanislav Radominov from Belgorod is confident that it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility that random people will want to go skiing on dangerous slopes - beginners, with a low level of training, who do not know the area, relief, or slope exposure.

Nevertheless, according to Radominov, it is necessary to hold lectures on avalanche safety in Terskol hotels every Monday (since most skiers come for an average week) and read forecasts of weather conditions and snow cover conditions. In addition, it is at such meetings that novice skiers can make acquaintance with local experienced guides.

Read the rules, save your life!

After the tragedy in Cheget, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Kabardino-Balkaria published an appeal to all tourists. It's worth bringing it out in full. Simple rules, the price of compliance with which is life and health.

“When registering, tourist groups become familiar with the necessary information about natural hazards on the route, the nearest points of possible emergency communication and hydrological and meteorological conditions in the area of ​​the proposed route.

Tourists must have with them group and personal equipment related to the safe passage of the route, communication and signaling equipment, route and insurance documents, food and medicine.

Rescuers of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are provided with telephone numbers and addresses of members of tourist groups. During the route, after a certain amount of time, tourists contact rescuers and provide information in the prescribed manner.

If a disaster occurs on the route, an emergency with a group, tourist organizations and tourists are obliged to take measures to rescue the victims on their own and report the incident to the rescue service.

After the group leaves the route, but no later than the stated end date of the event, the group leader is obliged to inform the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees about this fact.”