SOELDEN, Austria -- Two prospects from the U.S. ski team have been killed in an avala

[biggunsbob]

Damn this is sad..

SOELDEN, Austria -- Two prospects from the U.S. ski team have been killed in an avalanche while skiing near their European training base in the Austrian Alps.

The U.S. ski team says Ronnie Berlack, 20, and Bryce Astle, 19, died Monday in the incident near Rettenbach glacier, the venue for the annual season-opening World Cup races.

Berlack and Astle were part of a group of six skiers who were descending from the 3,056-meter Gaislachkogel when they left the prepared slope and apparently set off the avalanche. The other four escaped unhurt.

Officials in the Tyrolean region say an avalanche alert had been declared for the area after days of heavy snowfall and mild temperatures.

U.S. Alpine director Patrick Riml says the team "is in shock."

 

[Mitchrapp]

Sad indeed. No one should ever die from skiing.

 

[Michchamp]

back country skiing is pretty dangerous; I haven't skiied regularly since the 90's, and even I know that if you're going off marked trails in the mountains, you're risking an avalanche.

not saying they should have died, but it's a known risk & they took it.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Sad indeed. No one should ever die from skiing.

Skiing can be dangerous, people die fairly frequently.

Sonny Bono and Natasha Richardson are two people of renown that come right to mind.

It's too bad about these two Olympic prospects, and the two that I named - but skiing can be a dangerous pastime.

And short of death, people break legs and backs and suffer all manner of debilitating injuries.

Skiing can be dangerous.

EDIT: Dangers of skiing.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Thanks, Tinsel. But I do know the dangers. Its just sad people dieing for something that's suppose to be fun..

 

[tinselwolverine]

Thanks, Tinsel. But I do know the dangers. Its just sad people dieing for something that's suppose to be fun..

Just think how sad it is for those guys who die from one of those four hour erections caused by Viagara.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Just think how sad it is for those guys who die from one of those four hour erections caused by Viagara.

I always wonder why it says on those commercials "if you get an erection that last 4 hours call..."

So they don't think there's a problem after only 2 hours? Lol.

 

[Michchamp]

Skiing can be dangerous, people die fairly frequently.

Sonny Bono and Natasha Richardson are two people of renown that come right to mind.

It's too bad about these two Olympic prospects, and the two that I named - but skiing can be a dangerous pastime.

And short of death, people break legs and backs and suffer all manner of debilitating injuries.

Skiing can be dangerous.

EDIT: Dangers of skiing.

so in North America 40 people/year die from ski- or snowboard-related accidents... even though no one "should" die while skiing, according to Mitch, because after all there's nothing inherently dangerous about sliding down huge mountains covered in uneven, rocky, or forested terrain, at variably high rates of speed...

WHOA! Your article lead me to this article. Claude Nobs is the same "Funky Claude" referred to in Deep Purple's song "Smoke on the Water."

I remember one of the Kennedy's died from a skiing accident as well, but his group was allegedly combining heavy drinking with skiing.

 

[Mitchrapp]

You're an idiot. Of course i expect you know that.

 

[biggunsbob]

I remember skiing in my younger days here in GR Pando outside of Rockford my dad would get memberships when I was in junior high and one night it was real icy and I lost a edge and smacked and crack a rib...The few times I skied out west were amazing .. The hills are so much better out west....

We also went up to the UP to the porcupine mountains and I thought they were real big too.
Cold but so much bigger then Pando and Canonsburg.

 

[Mitchrapp]

I remember skiing in my younger days here in GR Pando outside of Rockford my dad would get memberships when I was in junior high and one night it was real icy and I lost a edge and smacked a tree and crack a rib...The few times I skied out west were amazing .. The hills are so much better out west....

We also went up to the UP to the porcupine mountains and I thought they were real big too.
Cold but so much bigger then Pando and Canonsburg.

I used to go to school in the UP, great mountains. Just don't ever walk up one and wait until dark to walk back down. It can be an adventure.

:cheers: