ULLENSVANG: It is the West police district that reports the landslide. They received a message at 1.14pm that there had been an avalanche at Røldal ski centre.
– Ski patrol is in dialogue with those who triggered the avalanche. All have been accounted for, the police say.
Skiers triggered the avalanche
General manager of the ski centre, Oddvar Bratteteig, tells Haugesund’s Avis that the avalanche has gone north-east of the ski resort itself.
– It is skier-triggered. It was a group of three friends who went up a mountainside and solved it. Everyone has been accounted for, he says.
Employees of the ski center were quickly on the scene and were able to search the area and talk to those who had been present when the avalanche started.
– There are a lot of guests in the facility today, and we were close to the area ourselves. We notified all agencies and sent an alarm, and were able to disarm the alarm as soon as we had control of the situation, says Bratteteig.
Take it as an exercise
Among other things, the area was searched using so-called transmitter/receiver systems.
– It’s a good system once the accident is out. Today we got to test our routines and they worked fine. We have to take it as an exercise, says the daily manager.
This is the first avalanche of the year in the area where skiers are involved.
The avalanche warning is at level two for the Hardanger area, which implies moderate avalanche danger.
“It can be easy to trigger wet loose snow avalanches if the sun catches on. Unstable jagged snow flakes in mud areas are the main problem in the high mountains,” writes varsom.no in the warning.
