The SLF have issued an avalanche warning for the Swiss mountains in place until Sunday.

General

Thursday 3rd of November has seen a week of fine weather. South facing slopes were largely snowfree to 3000m. On Northern Slopes there was discontinuous snow cover from 2000m with most snow in the Simplon area and from the Rhine to the Bernina forests.

Development

Snowfall started on Thursday afternoon in the south and has intensified today and will continue on Saturday penetrating into the main Alpine ridge. The snowline was at 2000m on Friday and will rise to 3000m on Saturday. Te following snowfall is expected:

* Southern Simplon area and upper Maggia valley 120 to 170 cm
* The rest of southern Upper Valais Ticino region and adjacent areas: 100 to 150 cm
* In the adjacent areas north of the Valais, the Bernese Oberland to the north and Upper Valais at the main Alpine ridge from Oberalp to the Bernina area up to 60 to 70 cm, more locally

The snow will be accompanied by storm force winds from the South West turning South-Easterly on Saturday which will cause snow accumulations. In the North there is a foehn and little snow.

Avalanche danger

On Friday the main Alpine ridge from the Matterhorn to the west of Ticino will see wet snow avalanches on steep terrain. The avalanche risk will increase on Saturday. In the southern Upper Valais spontaneous medium to large avalanches are expected. These may follow avalanche paths to lower altitudes with some isolated threats to roads.

Outlook

The snowline will drop to 2000m on Sunday with further snowfall especially in the Southern Valais. The avalanche risk will drop on Monday.

The rescue services are worried. They have not heard from a Chamonix guide and his client who are blocked by heavy snow on the Italian side of the Grandes Jorasses. The pair reached the summit but were unable to descend below 4000 meters. They have spent 3 nights in the open but the last contact by telephone was on Friday. The rescue services are waiting for a break in the weather to send a helicopter. Ground rescue is impossible due to the snow conditions and risk of avalanches.

The guide is Olivier Sourzac. His brother (Bruno Sourzac - a climber of international reputation) and 7 rescue workers tried to reach the stricken climbers on foot but had to turn back at 2800m due to the conditions. No helicopters have been able to operate today. The guide and his client (Charlotte) were able to dig a snow cave in a cornice but there has been no contact since Friday afternoon.

The Chamonix civil security and PHGM helicopters have been exploring the Pointe Walker area today in poor weather conditions. No signe of Olivier Sourzac and Charlotte Demtez who are holed up under a cornice but without an exact location (remmeber you GPS if you go into the mountains and know how to give a grid reference). There has been no contact since Friday and the mountains are now completely snow covered.

The two stricken climbers had a stove and some supplied. The temperature is -10C during the day, -25C at night, colder in the wind. The best hope remains Wednesday when the weather will clear, by then they will have spent 7 days in the mountains. The rescue services believe hope of finding the climbers alive is “slim”.

The story has echos in Rene Desmaison’s 342 hours on the Grandes Jorasse or the Vincendon and Henry affair

http://pistehors.com/news/forums/viewthread/48/
http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Avalanches/Vincendon-And-Henry

Sadly it looks like the efforts to rescue the two climbers have failed. The reports are that rescuers were able to finally reach them but it was too late.

Thanks for the update Ian. After the overflights on Sunday/Monday hoped seemed pretty slim that they were alive still.

Here is the DL story

http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-savoie/2011/11/09/grandes-jorasses-les-secours-ont-effectue-une-reconnaissance-ce-matin

Sounds like they couldn’t get any shelter and probably died several days ago, perhaps Friday night given the -25C temperatures which would have been even colder in the wind. Apparently they were lightly equipped for their summit attempt.

It reminds be a bit of some young people from Grenoble who died in Mont Blanc a few years ago. They were unable to make a snow cave in the hard ice where they were stranded. They were only a km from a refuge.

It is really sad. Olivier Sourzac’s climbing partner, Charlotte Demetz had two children but when you are climbing these kinds of routes death is always an outcome.

It was roped to a relay on a rocky ridge on the border between France and Italy where lifeless body of Olivier Sourzac, guide 47, and his client, Charlotte Demetz, 44 , were found yesterday. Since their last distress call Friday they were unable to protect themselves from the storm.

Suddenly, the face of Oscar Taiola the head of the Aosta Valley rescue services darkened. His phone rang and his eloquence gave way to silence. He learned that the helicopter and police rescue party on the other side of the mountain had spoted a red anorak at 4050 m on a ridge of rock on the normal descent of the Great Jorasses. Back at the base in Chamonix the police notify their counterparts who, despite the residual cloud layers, on the other side of the Mont-Blanc, have the courage to finish the rescue despite knowing the outcome.

It’s 11:25, the carabinieri and the Mayor of Courmayeur arrive at the helicopter base in Italy. “Two bodies were found, they are not moving” says the mayor. “Only nature will decide when we can bring them down” The Italian helicopter takes off again. Two paramedics and a doctor are sent knowing the sector is difficult. “We found the two bodies on the rocks and snow-covered surface. They were attached to a belay, fixed to the wall,” said Daniel Ollier, guide and rescue worker with the Tax Police. The doctor confirms the death of Oliver and Charlotte Sourzac Demetz, missing for eight days, after climbing the north face of the slope of the Linceul. Their bodies are frozen (temperature close to 0 °) and their ruck sacks can not be opened. At 13 hours, the remains were repatriated to the Italian helicopter base at 1200 m altitude.

Contrary to what we had hoped and indications of the guide in his last distress message, they could find shelter, prisoners of the south face of Jorasses. “It was just 100 meters below the ice and snow where they where they could have dug a snow hole,” said Oscar Taiola. They did not survive the episode of bad weather, the temperatures of - 20 ° and winds near 100 km / h, they were bivouacing without tents and sleeping bags, on a route that normally take a day.

“They probably died of cold and may simple gone to sleep with hypothermia never to wake up,” said Daniel Ollier. So, 150 m below the the Walker spur and the Grandes Jorasses (4208 m), their descent ended after six days of agonizing suspense, a human drama, that some people, clutching to last hopes compared to superman René Desmaison survival after 14 days on the directissime of the Walker Spur (Serge Goussault, Desmaisons co-equipier died of exposure).

But we were not in the presence of a first attempt by elite climbers, it was a story of a rope shared between a passionate guide, based in Passy (Haute-Savoie) and his Parisian client excited to climb the legendary north face of the Grandes Jorasses, certainly a major route but frequently climbed.

Their margin was thin, she was exhausted, bad weather came and the trap closed in on them while trying to reach the valley, on the other side.

http://www.ledauphine.com/isere-sud/2011/11/09/denouement-dramatique-pour-les-deux-alpinistes (Google Translation)