– We quickly found out that it is not advisable to send in crews with regard to our own safety. Now the avalanche danger is so great and we don’t sacrifice our own lives to come forward to see if there are people there, says operational manager of the local Red Cross in Røldal, Jostein Skeie. The Red Cross in Røldal rushed out with all available crews when the alarm went off just after midnight. They helped the police to map the avalanche area and the conclusion was that it is far too dangerous for the rescue team to move into the avalanche area. He does not think anyone was caught in the collapse. – We can clearly see that there is no car track leading into the landslide. So when we chose not to go into the area last night, we were pretty sure that there were no people there. No one has been reported missing. On the night of Friday, the Red Cross in Røldal helped the police to map an avalanche area, but concluded that it was too dangerous to move into the area. Photo: Røldal Red Cross Aid Corps On Thursday, volunteers from the Red Cross helped in a rescue operation on Trolltunga, where two tourists could not get down due to difficult weather. – A rather unusual situation Due to the large amount of snow and extensive risk of avalanches, the Red Cross asks everyone to consider safety carefully before setting out on a trip. – There has been quite a lot of snow in the last few days, and especially in the last 24 hours. I would say we are in a rather unusual situation now, says deputy head of the Red Cross Relief Corps, Kenneth Gulbrandsøy. The avalanche warning from Varsom.no has set danger level four, which means great avalanche danger, in Sunnmøre, Indre Fjordane, Voss, Hardanger and Heiane. There is a great danger of avalanches in several places in the country. Photo: Varsom.no In the rest of the country, with the exception of some areas in northern Norway, danger level three has been announced, which is a significant risk of avalanches. The warning applies to Friday, but there is also a risk of avalanches on Saturday. – Now it’s really just a matter of leaving the mountains, at least in avalanche-prone areas. The only thing that makes it so difficult is that there is poor visibility, wind and a lot of snow, in addition to the high risk of avalanches. The Red Cross in Røldal chose on Friday night not to enter an avalanche area, due to the risk to their own lives. Photo: Røldal Red Cross Aid Corps Two reasons for the avalanche danger Several mountain passes are and have been closed. The Red Cross asks travelers to consider unnecessary car journeys. If you have to go on road trips in southern Norway, the Red Cross believes it makes sense to bring extra food and drink, warm clothes, first aid equipment and a shovel. Solveig Kosberg is on duty in the Avalanche Warning Service at NVE. She says that there are two reasons why the danger level is four; strong wind and mild weather. – The mild weather makes the snow weaker, and we have a persistent weak layer from before that lies in the snow cover in many places. If an avalanche breaks loose, it can loosen so deeply that the avalanches become very large. Kosberg is now working on the forecast for the avalanche danger on Saturday and Sunday. – It looks like it will calm down a bit by tomorrow. Should wait at least half a day Gulbrandsøy says that the weather has to calm down before he advises people to go out on mountain trips again. – You should wait at least half a day before looking for the snow, maybe more, depending on the snow and the conditions. – But if the weather is nice during the weekend, just go out skiing, but don’t seek out avalanche-dangerous terrain. Kosberg in the avalanche warning says she would be very careful about moving in the vicinity of steep terrain. – Keep a good distance from steep terrain, because large landslides can break loose on their own.
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If you get hit by an avalanche, you may risk not being rescued – news Vestland
