jimk
Active member
Thought I'd share this somewhat interesting read about a young American woman who went to a private school in Switzerland. Backcountry skiing was part of the curriculum. She was subsequently killed in an avalanche.
Death in the Swiss Backcountry
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jamesdeluxe
Administrator
Excellent article, not sure how I missed it with my WP subscription. My wife and I skied at Hasliberg/Meiringen in 2018. Looks like they had quite the life at that boarding school.
Ugh:
She had been buried under 50 feet of snow, and her body had been wedged between some rocks in a streambed about three-quarters of a mile from the accident. The avalanche was so powerful and the surge so strong that her body was not intact. A local fisherman would find the rest of Emily three months later, more than two miles downstream.
Ugh:
She had been buried under 50 feet of snow, and her body had been wedged between some rocks in a streambed about three-quarters of a mile from the accident. The avalanche was so powerful and the surge so strong that her body was not intact. A local fisherman would find the rest of Emily three months later, more than two miles downstream.
jamesdeluxe
Administrator
Like many avalanche-death articles, the comments turned into a free-for-all with people taking shots at the guides, the parents, the school, the culture of privilege, the WP for publishing such a lengthy article on the front page, etc.
Not surprising that the subject of the article was elated to find that such a thing -- a boarding school where BC skiing is part of the curriculum -- existed for those who could afford its price tag.
Not surprising that the subject of the article was elated to find that such a thing -- a boarding school where BC skiing is part of the curriculum -- existed for those who could afford its price tag.
jimk
Active member
I've been reading the WaPo on and off for much of my life including the online version ever since the birth of the internet. It took me a couple years to understand how the online comments section works for any and all newspaper articles. Had to realize, accept, and then mostly dismiss comments as purely entertainment from overwhelmingly bitter, negative individuals.
All the happy, well-adjusted people stick to commenting about online ski articles
All the happy, well-adjusted people stick to commenting about online ski articles
berkshireskier
Member
Terrible and very sad story. As the parent of an only child, my heart aches for her parents. I'm not sure what the moral is but Mother Nature can be a very cruel mistress at times. This (almost) exact same tragedy occurred to friends of ours in western Massachusetts about 10 or 12 years ago. Their teenage son (not an only child, though) was an outstanding junior ski racer (one of the best in Massachusetts and also an outstanding junior golfer) and he left the local high school to attend a school in Switzerland (I'm not sure if it was this same school or another one) and he was out skiing somewhere in the Swiss alps, near the school, and got lost on the mountain and ended up on a slope he should not have been on; the slope avalanched and he was killed, at the age of 17. The parents were devastated by their loss.
jamesdeluxe
Administrator
Of course. For ten minutes daily, I skim through the NY Post AND read some of comments sections just to make sure that I'm aware of what a third of the country is thinking on a variety of issues.