10 January 2009, 07:00
Woman-skier dies under avalanche in Kabardino-Balkaria
In Kabardino-Balkaria, a woman-alpinist-skier from St-Petersburg was killed by a snow slide, when she tried to ski down the Elborus.
On January 8, at about 1:10 p.m. Moscow time, a message arrived to the Elborus Search and Rescue Unit that an avalanche had gone down a slope of the Elborus Mountain between the ropeway stations "Azau" and "Krugozor", which could cover mountain skiers. The rescuers who arrived to the venue found the body of the perished sportswoman under the avalanche; the body was handed over to employees of law enforcement bodies, the RIA "Novosti" writes.
According to preliminary data, the woman-skier was descending down the slope of the mountain not intended for skiing and provoked the avalanche, the Regions.ru reports.
Since the start of this year, in the mountains of Kabardino-Balkaria snow avalanches have already killed three persons. On January 7, a mountain skier from Moscow, 27, was killed by an avalanche in the vicinity of the Elborus, and on January 5, another mountain skier from Moscow aged 32 disappeared on the Cheget Mountain. Later the rescue team found his body and stated that he had died when descending the mountain.
As a whole, every year some 20-30 persons die on the slopes of the Elborus, approximately every hundredth climber or skier.
