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An avalanche in Loveland Pass, Colorado, has killed five back-country snowboarders with a sixth surviving, according to officials.
The avalanche occurred between 13:00 and 14:00 local time, near a ski area, and blocked a highway.
The bodies of the victims, who all had avalanche beacons, were recovered by search teams.
A local sheriff said the authorities believed the snowboarders had caused the avalanche themselves.
An avalanche in Loveland Pass, Colorado, has killed five back-country snowboarders with a sixth surviving
The pass, at an elevation of 11,990 ft, is popular among back-country skiers and snowboarders, many of whom have been taking advantage of late season snowfall in the Rocky Mountains this weekend.
Sheriff Don Krueger of Clear Creek County said the avalanche had occurred near the Loveland Ski Area, but outside its boundaries, the Denver Post reports.
He said he believed everyone had been accounted for but could not be sure.
Don Krueger added that the authorities were “pretty sure” the snowboarders had triggered the avalanche, which he said was about 600yds (600m) wide and 8ft deep.
“The basic is that there was a group of about six back-country snowboards that came out today about two o’clock,” he said, adding that they had apparently triggered the snow slide.
“At least one of them was able to bail off to the side, he was partially buried but he was able to get himself out and call for help.”
An eyewitness saw a fire engine and ambulances, one towing snowmobiles, heading towards the pass, and two search dogs in the area of the slide.
The Colorado Department of Transportation said the avalanche had closed Highway 6 at Loveland Pass and could not estimate when the pass would reopen.
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At least nine climbers are feared dead and six more are missing in Nepal after an avalanche swept away Europeans and others on Himalayan peak Manaslu.
Officials confirmed two bodies had been recovered while a further seven were spotted on the slopes of Mount Manaslu in the north of the country.
The avalanche struck a base camp near the summit on Saturday, police said.
The two bodies recovered are said to be of a German and a Nepalese guide.
At least nine climbers are feared dead and six more are missing in Nepal after an avalanche swept away Europeans and others on Himalayan peak Manaslu
Police official Basanta Bahadur Kuwar was quoted as saying by the Associated Press that 10 people had survived the avalanche but many among them were injured.
They were being flown to hospitals by rescue helicopters, he added.
Officials are trying to determine exactly how many people were in the climbing party.
Deteriorating weather conditions meant it was impossible to continue air searches of the mountain on Sunday, Basanta Bahadur Kuwar said.
The climbers were caught at 7,000 m (22,960 ft) as they were preparing to head toward the summit, which is 8,156 m high.
“The avalanche hit camp three of the Manaslu peak… resulting in a flood of snow,” said Laxmi Dhakal, head of the Nepalese home ministry’s disaster response division.
Hundreds of foreign climbers head every year for the Himalayas in Nepal, which has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.
Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world, is considered one of the most dangerous, with dozens of deaths in recent years.
The autumn climbing season began this month.
At least six climbers have been killed and eight injured in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix, police say.
The alarm was sounded at 05:25 local time by one of the injured on the slopes of Mont Maudit.
Foreigners are thought to be among the victims. The injured were airlifted to a local hospital.
At least six climbers have been killed and eight injured in an avalanche near the French Alpine ski resort of Chamonix
The mountain is known as a popular route for summer tourists heading for the summit of Mont Blanc.
The climbers are believed to have been roped together in several groups when the avalanche struck.
About 28 climbers from several countries are said to have taken part in the expedition, and reports say a number of them are still missing.
Rescue teams are using a helicopter and heat-seeking device to try to locate the missing.
The local authorities described the avalanche as “the most deadly” in recent years, according to the AFP news agency.
Mont Maudit – meaning the cursed mountain – is the third-highest peak in the Mont Blanc massif range, rising to 4,465 m (14,650 ft).
A news conference in Chamonix is expected shortly.
The death toll of Kashmir avalanche has risen to 135, the Pakistan army has said.
Spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians were missing after 21 m (70 ft) of snow engulfed a military camp near the Siachen Glacier on Saturday.
He had earlier said that 100 soldiers and 11 civilians were missing.
Rescuers have yet to find any survivors.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the avalanche had covered an area of 1 sq km (0.39 sq m).
The search was called off late on Saturday due to darkness and poor weather, but is set to resume early on Sunday.
Hundreds of troops, plus sniffer dogs and helicopters are involved in the rescue operation.
The death toll of Kashmir avalanche has risen to 135
In a statement, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani expressed shock at the disaster, but said it “in no way would undermine the high morale of soldiers and officers.”
The camp, located 15,000 ft (4,572 m) above sea level in Kashmir’s Gayari district, near the border with India, was engulfed by snow at around 06:00 a.m. local time.
Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas earlier described the avalanche as “very massive”.
He also warned it could take several days to complete the rescue operation, which was unprecedented in scale for such a location, where temperatures can plunge to minus 70 Celsius.
As of yet, there has been no communication with any of the missing soldiers, who were from the Northern Light Infantry regiment, which is trained in mountain operations.
The region is prone to avalanches, the major general said, although they typically occur in “forward bases” at higher altitude, where only 10 or 20 troops are located.
One officer who had been stationed at the base in 2003 said he could not “comprehend how an avalanche can reach that place”.
“It was supposed to be safe,” he told the Associated Press.
A previous avalanche in the area killed 24 Pakistani troops in 2010 – believed to be the heaviest loss of life in such an incident until now.
Kashmir has been partitioned between India and Pakistan since 1947.
Failure to agree on the status of the territory by diplomatic means has twice brought India and Pakistan to war.
The Siachen glacier is known as the world’s highest battlefield, and soldiers have been deployed at elevations of up to 6,700 m (22,000 feet).
However, more soldiers have died from the harsh weather conditions there than in combat.
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More than 100 Pakistani soldiers have been buried by an avalanche in the disputed Kashmir region, officials say.
Local TV stations say that the incident happened near the Siachen glacier in the eastern Karakoram mountain range.
130 troops were buried when a battalion headquarters in the Gayari district was engulfed, says the AP news agency, quoting a security official.
The area is in the northern tip of the divided Kashmir region which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told the AFP news agency that at least 100 soldiers were missing, and that a rescue operation had begun.
Five foreign tourists have died after being buried by a major avalanche in northern Norway, local police say.
The victims are reported to be four Swiss and one French citizen. A sixth man was pulled out and taken to hospital with “moderate injuries”.
They were part of a larger group of skiers which apparently split into two groups before the avalanche.
Around 30 rescue workers, assisted by dogs and helicopters, were dispatched in the search and rescue operation.
Five foreign tourists have died after being buried by a major avalanche in northern Norway
The avalanche happened on Mt Sorbmegaisa in the north of Troms district, about 65 km (40 miles) east of Tromso, on Monday afternoon.
The identities of the five victims have not been released.
The survivor, thought to be Swiss, was taken to a hospital in Tromso.
“It’s a man. His injuries are moderate and his condition is stable,” hospital spokesman Jan Fredrik Frantzen, told AFP news agency.
Police said rescuers had detected signals from the skiers’ avalanche transceivers buried in the snow.
Troms police chief Tor-Einar Eilertsen said a medical helicopter had been despatched and the army had been asked to help.
In a later statement the police said around 30 people with sniffer dogs were helping in the rescue.
Avalanches are relatively common in Norway at this time of year, as higher spring temperatures start to warm and dislodge blocks of snow.
At least 37 people have been killed by an avalanche in Badakhshan province, north-eastern Afghanistan, according to officials.
The provincial governor’s office said another six people were injured when the snow hit a village in Shekay district, near the Tajikistan border.
The village had been wiped away, said spokesman Abdul Marouf Rasikh.
Badakhshan is one of the country’s poorest and most remote regions and is shut off by heavy snow every year.
The village had been severely affected by the cold weather, said Abdul Marouf Rasikh, and governor Shah Wali Ullah had been visiting at the time.
“The governor was trapped with those six injured but was rescued by helicopters and taken to a remote area on the border with Tajikistan,” said Abdul Marouf Rasikh.
Prince Johan Friso of The Netherlands has been hit by an avalanche in the Austrian town of Lech, say officials.
According to Austrian officials, Prince Johan was buried under the snow for about 15 minutes before being rescued by emergency teams.
He was resuscitated at the scene and has been taken to hospital in Innsbruck, said Austrian media. His condition is not known.
According to Austrian officials, Prince Johan was buried under the snow for about 15 minutes before being rescued by emergency teams
Prince Johan, 43, is the second son of the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix.
Several members of the Dutch royal family had been on holiday together in Lech, in western province of Vorarlberg.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed that Queen Beatrix had not been hit by the avalanche.
Images of an avalanche of fine ice and dust thundering over a cliff near Mars’s north pole have been captured by a high resolution camera from a NASA spacecraft.
It’s not the first avalanche captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA first detected the phenomenon in 2008, believed to be caused by a thin “crust” of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) which forms during the Martian winter.
The HiRISE high resolution camera took the amazing photograph at 85 degrees north on the planet.
The HiRISE camera is one of several hi-tech instruments on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It’s the largest camera ever carried into deep space.
Images of an avalanche of fine ice and dust thundering over a cliff near Mars's north pole have been captured by a high resolution camera from a NASA spacecraft
NASA’s ground team says that the events are detectable by a cloud of fine material that erupts when avalanches collapse down slopes on the planet.
Some avalanches on Mars are caused by meteorite impacts, but others are thought to be the result of ‘seasons’ on the planet, which has winters, just like Earth.
Planetary scientist Ingrid Daubar Spitale of the University of Arizona, who first noticed the avalanches in photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter said: “It’s great to see something so dynamic on Mars. A lot of what we see there hasn’t changed for millions of years.”
