The worst day of skiing...

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Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 23, 2018 - 10:00am PT

doesn’t always beat staying at the office:

One killed as avalanche engulfs skiers after volcano erupts at Japanese resort
Reuters|

By Elaine Lies | TOKYO
One man was killed and at least 11 people injured, some critically, when rocks from an erupting volcano rained down on skiers at a mountain resort in central Japan on Tuesday and an avalanche soon after the eruption engulfed about a dozen skiers.
Seven of those struck by rocks were members of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force (SDF) engaged in winter training maneuvers, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
All were rescued, with one dying later, it added.
Japanese media said at least 12 people were injured, many apparently hit by volcanic rocks. Two were critically injured and three seriously, national broadcaster NHK said.
One person was trapped in the avalanche for some time before being dug out by rescuers, who included SDF members.
Kusatsu-Shirane, a 2,160-metre (7,090 ft) volcano, erupted on Tuesday morning, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The agency warned that further eruptions could not be ruled out and that rocks could be thrown as far as 2 km (1 mile) from the peak.
Video footage from the top of the resort's gondola showed skiers gliding down the slopes as black rocks plummeted from the skies and snow billowed up as they struck the ground, sometimes just missing skiers. A cloud of black smoke later drifted in.

"There was this huge boom, and a big plume of totally black smoke rose up," one skier told NHK. "I had absolutely no idea what had happened."
A photograph taken at the site and shown on NHK depicted a gondola with a shattered window. At least several of the injuries were due to broken glass.
"Other people appeared to be hurt by the stones, which appeared to be around 10 to 20 cm in size," another skier told NHK.
The resort temporarily lost power, leaving a number of skiers suspended in gondolas for around half an hour until they resumed moving. About 80 skiers, including some non-Japanese at a hut at the top of the mountain, were later rescued by helicopters on Tuesday afternoon.
It was unclear whether the avalanche was caused by the volcanic activity but they occurred nearly simultaneously.
The warning level for the peak was raised to 3, meaning that people should not climb the mountain, the JMA said.
Japan has 110 active volcanoes and monitors 47 of them around the clock. In September 2014, 63 people were killed on Mount Ontake, the worst volcanic disaster in Japan for nearly 90 years.
(Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Clarence Fernandez)

One killed as avalanche engulfs skiers after volcano erupts at Japanese resort
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-volcano-avalanche/one-killed-as-avalanche-engulfs-skiers-after-volcano-erupts-at-japanese-resort-idUSKBN1FC0B9

fear

Ice climber

hartford, ct

Jan 23, 2018 - 10:13am PT

"Man, that steam vent is HUGE today... huh... "

kunlun_shan

Mountain climber

SF, CA

Jan 23, 2018 - 11:08am PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Ricky D

Trad climber

Sierra Westside

Jan 23, 2018 - 11:35am PT

Can we blame the Snowboarder yet?

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 23, 2018 - 11:52am PT

^^^^^^. DING-DING-DING!

Nick Danger

Ice climber

Arvada, CO

Jan 23, 2018 - 12:04pm PT

Dingus,
Some volcanoes, such as Mt. St Helens and Mt Rainier (there are others) have seismic arrays on and around them that can detect a particular type of harmonic tremor that indicates an impending eruption. One type of harmonic seismic signal is associated with rock fracturing as magma works its way towards the surface and these typically precede an eruption by time intervals measured in weeks to months. Another type of harmonic signal is associated with steam and other volatiles coming out of solution in the magma in near surface environments, and this signal typically precedes an eruption by hours. Volcanic eruption prediction using seismic data as well as volcanic gas analysis from active fumaroles is still Earth science in the development stage, but impressive progress has been made since the early 1980's. Japan probably has their more active volcanoes well monitored with seismic arrays and they certainly have volcanologists and seismologists as active in this research as anyone has, but each volcanic eruption is a beast unto itself. The signals indicating an impending eruption might have been there, or might not have. Possibly the seismic noise was so great that these particular harmonic signals were swamped out. My condolences go out to the victims.

Also, ski days where a friend perished in an avalanche ARE the very worst ski days of all.

clode

Trad climber

portland, or

Jan 23, 2018 - 12:09pm PT

When you live in a flood plain, guess what might happen?
When you live/work/play near an active volcano, guess what night happen?
Duh! Sorry for the injured and family of the dead, but c'mon, really? Seriously? If you play, you pay, same goes for rock climbing! They're all dangerous sports, especially when you add in an objective hazard such as eruptions!