The ski season is underway, but skiing is associated with avalanches that every year put skiers at risk. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is therefore now installing measuring stations with new modern technology on several of the country’s mountain peaks.
Skier Johan Jonsson was seconds from being dragged into an avalanche.
– I had to make a quick decision how to act, says Johan Jonsson.
It was in Borgafjäll in Västerbotten that the dramatic event occurred in 2008. During a ride on one of the steepest mountain slopes, a large blanket of snow suddenly detached behind Johan Jonsson, forming an avalanche.
– I look back and see the avalanche coming towards me. I am forced to make a quick decision, should I go out to the side or drive straight down.
Johan did not think he would have time to go to the side, but continued straight down.
– I managed to go so fast that I managed to get away, says Johan Jonsson.
New weather stations
Every year, several incidents occur in the Swedish mountains when skiers and snowmobilers trigger avalanches. On average, one person dies every two years in avalanches in the Swedish mountains, according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
In order for the avalanche forecasts to be better and to be able to give clearer indications of when there is danger of avalanches, completely new automatic weather stations are now being installed, which should make the avalanche forecasts better and more reliable than before.
– In the past, we have often had to rely on measuring stations such as SMHI or the Swedish Transport Administration. But they are located in lower terrain and there are no avalanches, says Mattias Tarestad, avalanche expert at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.
But it is the weather up in the mountains that is decisive, says Mattias Tarestad. Therefore, the authority has placed nine new weather stations on mountains from Jämtland in the south and north up to Norrbotten.
– Now we have placed the measuring stations up on the mountains, high up in the terrain. That’s where it happens, says Mattias Tarestad.