Skier rescued alive on a depth of 3 meters after 1 hour of burial

A person was rescued alive on January 14 in Jaun, Switzerland with the help of avalanche dog and RECCO Rescue System. According to Linus Buchs, in charge of the rescue operation and former Head of Rescue in Jaun, three skiers were skiing in a steep off-piste area on Monday last week when the avalanche occurred.

3 meters deep

A 22-year-old man got buried completely in a 50 meters wide and 250 meters long avalanche. The avalanche risk was 3 (considerable) out of 5 on the European Avalanche Danger Scale, and none of the skiers were equipped with a transceiver, shovel or probe. A witness called immediately for emergency assistance and a rescue team from REGA (Swiss Air-Rescue) came by helicopter with an avalanche dog and a RECCO detector.

“The avalanche dog marked a zone after 10 minutes, but the probing was unsuccessful. The rescue team immediately got a signal nearby with the RECCO detector and was able to pinpoint the victim. The position of the victim was confirmed with the probe and after 40 minutes of digging, the skier was found alive and conscious on a depth of 3.20 meters. He was rescued about 1 hour and 10 minutes after the burial and transported to the hospital. He is fine today”, says Buchs.

The skier was wearing an Arc’teryx jacket with an integrated RECCO rescue reflector.

RECCO rescue reflectors make you searchable to professional rescuers. They are not a substitute for a transceiver, shovel and probe used for companion rescue. Check out more about RECCO on this page.