http://www.lematin.ch/faits-divers/fribourgeois-tue-avalanche/story/14528176 - Google Translate
A fribourgeois climber killed by an avalanche
A 50-year veteran mountaineer and director of a sports shop, died yesterday morning (23/4/2012) by falling from a cliff. He was carried by an avalanche while backcountry skiing with his 19 year old son.
Monday, shortly before 8am, a local mountain climber, was killed in the Fribourg Alps. The 50 year old man, an experienced mountaineer and director of Oxygen mountain sports shop in Ependes (FR), was ski touring with his 19 year old son when they were caught in an avalanche on the slopes of the mountain of Schafharnisch, in the town of Plaffeien (FR). The father was carried by the snow slide towards a cliff and fell from a height of 600 meters.
His son, who managed to escape the slide just before the precipice, immediately alerted the emergency services. The Rega, assisted by the Lac Noire rescue services could do nothing for the man.
Across the Alps on Skis
The victim was familiar with the mountain and its risks. In addition to the avalanche bulletins on Radio Fribourg, he was also providing courses in his shop on the use of detectors needed for avalanche victims (DVA). But he always remembered a DVA is like a seatbelt in a car, they can not prevent the avalanche flow.
In 1984 he had crossed the Alps on skis with three other Fribourgois: a journey of three months, from Austria to France through the Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. Nearly twenty years later, between the summers of 2002 and 2003, this time he, his wife and children traveled the world’s roads for a year.
The accident occurred at Schafarnisch at 2100m on a N/NW slopes. Avalanche risk was 2.