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Transcript

00:01A picturesque Austrian resort in the height of the ski season.

00:054,000 tourists enjoy the beautiful alpine scenery.

00:10Suddenly, a massive avalanche shatters the peace.

00:15Within 3 minutes, a 100-meter wall of snow devastates the village of Galtur.

00:21It smashes buildings and buries dozens of people.

00:2531 die.

00:26All in a village that avalanche experts officially designated as safe.

00:32Now, using our advanced computer simulation, we reveal exactly what went wrong in Galtur.

00:39Disasters don't just happen, they're a chain of critical events.

00:44Unravel the fateful moments in those final seconds from disaster.

00:57Europe. Austria. Galtur. February, 1999.

01:07The traditional ski resort of Galtur is a popular winter playground high up in the Alps.

01:16Steep alpine cliffs surround the village on three sides.

01:21It lies directly below the Grieskopf mountain, which towers over Galtur at a height of 2,754 meters.

01:30But this tranquil beauty comes at a price.

01:34In winter, heavy snowfall and high winds batter the village.

01:38Galtur lies in the heart of avalanche country.

01:43Nevertheless, the steep slopes are a magnet for winter sports enthusiasts.

01:49In peak season, Galtur attracts up to 4,000 visitors a week from across Europe.

01:54Promoting itself as the resort with skiing on the doorstep.

02:00That's why Christa and Helmut Kappelner come here from Dusseldorf in Germany every year.

02:09Galtur is very small, and the ski slopes are right by the village.

02:14You hardly need to cover any distance at all to get to the slopes.

02:18You can ski right up to your front door.

02:25The easy access to the ski slopes makes Galtur the perfect family resort.

02:3433-year-old British firefighter Jason Tate, his wife and two children are staying in a chalet on the eastern edge of Galtur.

02:43His brother Jonathan and his family are with them.

02:48They've now been in Galtur for 10 days on what is meant to be the dream holiday.

02:55The holiday was a kind of trip for a lifetime, as it were.

02:59We'd saved up all the previous year, and it was our first time away skiing with the kids.

03:05That's what was important to us.

03:08But their trip of a lifetime is far from ideal.

03:13Apart from an unseasonally warm period between January 29th and February 4th, the weather is terrible.

03:21By February 17th, the area has endured over two weeks of almost continuous snowfall.

03:28High-altitude weather stations record 3.8 meters of snow for the period, six times greater than the February average.

03:36Krista takes a home video camera to capture the record snowfall, now into its third week.

03:44You can hardly see any sign of the village, of its houses. Nothing but snow, snow, snow, snow.

03:52And the snow is not just falling heavily on the village.

03:56High above Galtur, snow continues to build up on the Grieskopf mountain at an alarming rate of 15 centimeters a day.

04:06Cold air is moving towards the Alps, which means continuous snowfall.

04:12Above that, snow and more snow.

04:15The white snow storm outside doesn't want to stop.

04:21The authorities issue a series of extreme weather warnings, and they shut down the ski slopes.

04:27Then, on February 18th, the threat of avalanches forces the authorities to close the only road leading into Galtur.

04:36Almost 4,000 people are cut off from the outside world.

04:44By February 23rd, Jason Tate and his family are still trapped in Galtur.

04:49They should have gone home three days ago.

04:51Every morning we'd go out and clear the cars off and clear the drive because of the continuous snow, just in case we'd get a window of opportunity to get out.

04:59The weather continues to deteriorate, and now it's more than just heavy snowfall.

05:05Huge winds batter the cut-off valley with recorded speeds of 120 kilometers per hour.

05:12This extreme wind was very bad.

05:15It was not just a matter of hearing the wind howl.

05:18It hurt your face, too, with shards.

05:29At 7 a.m. on February 23rd, Galtur's mayor calls an urgent meeting of his avalanche emergency team.

05:36They believe the risk of an avalanche is now high.

05:41Galtur's authorities log on to the avalanche warning service.

05:44Galtur's authorities log on to the avalanche warning service.

05:47It confirms their fears.

05:49The whole area is on danger level 5, the highest avalanche alert.

05:56They're concerned because Galtur is surrounded on three sides by high mountains.

06:02But the center of the village has never been hit by a major avalanche in living memory, and is classified as an official safe zone.

06:09So the committee decides that as long as people stay within the boundaries, they will not be in danger.

06:18The people of Galtur said you didn't have to be afraid because nothing would happen.

06:23After all, the village had been set up and constructed with safety from avalanches in mind.

06:32Galtur has three color-coded avalanche hazard zones.

06:35In the high-risk red zone surrounding the village's outskirts, no building is allowed.

06:41In the potentially dangerous yellow zone, all houses and hotels are reinforced.

06:47The green zone, the heart of the village, is considered safe, a place beyond the reach of any avalanche.

06:56The heavy snow continues throughout the day.

06:59As more and more snow piles up on the mountains overlooking the village, small avalanches start to appear on the lower slopes.

07:09With little to do, Christa and her husband Helmut venture out to the Café Günther.

07:14They stay within the safe green zone, but Christa feels anxious.

07:20I did not feel safe at all, and I was afraid to leave the house.

07:24You constantly look up at the mountains on your left and right and think, oh my God, I do hope it's safe.

07:30So I was really anxious, thinking, I hope we get out of this alive.

07:38Galtur is now experiencing its heaviest snowfall since records began 100 years ago.

07:44An astonishing 30 centimeters falls on this one day alone.

07:48The freak weather surprises even the locals.

07:52Maria Wolf is housekeeper to the village priest.

07:56She hasn't seen a winter this bad in her entire life.

08:043.50 p.m. Christa and Helmut leave the Café Günther and head back to their hotel.

08:10It's a 20-minute walk in thick snow.

08:13Jason Tate and his family are in their chalet on the outskirts of Galtur.

08:22Maria Wolf is in the laundry room of the priest's house next to the church.

08:27She's nearly finished her work, but something feels wrong.

08:32I was just about to go into the laundry room.

08:36I was just about to go into the laundry room.

08:39But something feels wrong.

08:42I was just about to go into the presbytery chapel to say a rosary,

08:46because somehow it seemed as if something was about to happen.

08:52I had a feeling that there was something in the air.

08:56Maria is right to feel uneasy.

08:59High on the Grisskopf mountain, the snowpack creaks under its enormous weight.

09:05It breaks away.

09:07A massive avalanche is headed straight for the village.

09:13High above the Austrian ski resort of Galtur,

09:16a massive overhang of snow buckles under the strain of three weeks of almost continuous snowfall.

09:243.59 p.m. An avalanche breaks off and heads down the mountain.

09:38The village of Galtur lies directly in its path.

09:47Jason and Jonathan Tate are with their children in the chalet on the outskirts of the village.

09:52All of a sudden you sort of hear this rumbling,

09:56very, very loud, as if a train is going past in the distance.

10:02Jonathan pushes the children under a table, terrified that the windows are about to blow in.

10:08It happened so fast that all of a sudden the house just rocks,

10:12and then it's like being in a washing machine, the elements are just battering the house,

10:17and I was just concerned that the windows couldn't sustain that kind of battering.

10:22The children are in the chalet.

10:24A wave of snow, 100 meters high, crashes through Galtur's outskirts.

10:29Here in the outer yellow zone, buildings are made to resist avalanches.

10:34The avalanche obliterates many of them in seconds.

10:3750 seconds after 4pm, housekeeper Maria Wolf is about to leave the priest's house

10:42when the avalanche surges towards the center of the village.

10:46The avalanche is so strong that it can destroy a house.

10:50The village is in a state of panic.

10:53The village is in a state of panic.

10:56The village is in a state of panic.

10:59The village is in a state of panic.

11:02The village is in a state of panic.

11:04The avalanche surges towards the center of the village.

11:23A flurry of snow, and then I can't remember anything.

11:29Three seconds later, the avalanche thunders down the street

11:32and the housekeeper and Helmut Kapellner return to their hotel.

11:36Christa feels a huge force hit her in the back.

11:43The tremendous power of the avalanche somersaults her 50 meters down the street.

11:49Instinctively, I covered my face with both hands and pitched forward.

11:584.02pm

12:02The avalanche finally peters out 100 meters inside the green zone,

12:06the safe zone that is the center of Galtur.

12:12The deadly wall of snow has devastated this once tranquil village.

12:25It has thrown and crushed cars.

12:28Snow buries entire streets and destroys houses.

12:33No one knows how many people are trapped.

12:42Shocked villagers immediately get to work to try to locate survivors.

12:47The rescuers have no idea where people are buried.

12:51They work in lines, probing the snow with metal rods to help locate hidden bodies.

13:03Jason and Jonathan Tate's chalet is at the very edge of the avalanche path.

13:08It escapes undamaged.

13:11The brothers set out to see if they can help with the rescue effort.

13:18We kept passing people, coming away from where it had been,

13:21holding their heads and shaking their heads.

13:23It was quite concerning. We thought, well, what are we walking into here?

13:27What faced us was absolutely shocking.

13:30Basically, there was just a huge amount of snow where half of the village had previously been.

13:36The whole hotel was at 45 degrees, literally uprooted and turned over.

13:43To see a whole building turned over like that is something to behold, the power of nature.

13:51Snow even fills the building.

13:54Snow even fills the buildings left standing, burying people inside.

14:03Maria Wolf is one of them, trapped under snow in the laundry room.

14:08Only the sink saves her from being totally buried.

14:13But she's unconscious. She needs help, fast.

14:17365 meters away, the full force of the avalanche

14:20has blasted German tourist Christa off her feet and along the street.

14:26As the avalanche subsides, Christa finds herself trapped in an icy tomb.

14:33She was standing next to Helmut when the avalanche struck

14:36and is sure that he'll rescue her.

14:38As an experienced skier, Christa knows that her survival depends on being found quickly.

14:43A pocket of air is keeping her alive, but for how long?

14:49There was a smell of mold, as if one had been buried alive.

14:55That's what it felt like.

15:02Maria is luckier. A rescue team finds her in the priest's basement.

15:07Volta Kirk, a local doctor, rushes to the scene.

15:14All I knew was that a male voice said,

15:17Stay calm, Maria.

15:20And the doctor asked me, Can you move your feet?

15:23And I said, Yes, both of them.

15:29Dr. Kirk says that the avalanche is not the end of the world.

15:34Dr. Kirk begins emergency treatment.

15:38Maria has fractured ribs and back injuries, but seems numb to the pain.

15:43She did not scream, she did not cry.

15:45She was in a state of shock, just like the rest of us.

15:50Maria is seriously injured, but at least she is receiving medical attention.

15:55Many more are not so fortunate.

15:58Dozens of people are missing, including Christa and Helmut.

16:02Their survival now depends on a speedy rescue effort.

16:09As darkness falls, the temperature plummets to minus nine degrees Celsius,

16:13well below freezing point.

16:16But a greater threat than cold is asphyxiation.

16:20For people buried under the snow, the difference between life and death

16:23is now a matter of minutes.

16:28If the rescuers don't find victims within 40 minutes,

16:31it's usually too late.

16:37The village mayor is desperate for help.

16:42Frantic calls go out to the emergency services in Landeck,

16:45the nearest town 40 kilometers away.

16:51But the calls are in vain.

16:54Helicopters are ready and waiting, but the snowstorm has cut off the entire valley.

17:01The weather grounds the choppers.

17:09Galtour is on its own.

17:11As the clock ticks away, the victims' survival now relies

17:14on the rescue efforts of volunteers.

17:194.45 p.m., 46 minutes after the start of the avalanche,

17:24and for German skier Christa Kappelner, time is running out.

17:32At that point, I felt no fear at all.

17:35I was simply hoping and wishing and praying that I would be rescued.

17:42But the crisis overwhelms the volunteer rescue services.

17:48British firefighter Jason Tate arrives at a makeshift medical center

17:52and witnesses the extent of the disaster.

17:56It's just frantic mayhem. There were casualties everywhere.

17:59You couldn't see the carpet for bodies or people working on them.

18:03Jason desperately tries to help the survivors.

18:06But without paramedic equipment, he's frustrated by how little he can do.

18:11We knew that no one was going to get to us, but we're on our own.

18:17It's 5 p.m.

18:19All over Galtour, volunteers desperately probe the snow for the missing.

18:24But as minutes turn into hours, it increasingly becomes a search for the dead.

18:30Christa Kappelner knows that the oxygen in her air pocket is getting dangerously low.

18:37She realizes she must try to dig herself out, but it's an impossible task.

18:45The snow was as hard as concrete, just like pushing against a concrete wall.

18:50So I was totally unable to do anything at all for myself.

18:53All I could do was wait to be rescued by other people.

18:57She's unaware that a rescue team is close by.

19:01With them, a search dog, Heiko, is trained in avalanche rescue.

19:10Christa begins to lose consciousness, as the last of her oxygen is exhausted.

19:27Suddenly, Heiko picks up a scent around the bumper of a car buried in the snow.

19:35The team starts to dig frantically, hoping they might find a survivor.

19:40It's incredibly hard going. The snow is solidly compacted.

19:46It wasn't the soft kind of snow that you'd expect to go out and play in.

19:49It was like concrete. It had set, and it was quite difficult to try and dig through.

19:53The team dig deeper under the upturned car.

19:57Heiko becomes more and more agitated.

20:027 p.m. Christa has been buried for three hours.

20:09The rescuers are three meters down when they spot clothing.

20:13It's Christa.

20:16Barely alive, she has severe hypothermia.

20:20Barely alive, she has severe hypothermia.

20:23She needs medical help urgently.

20:31Finding Christa gives everyone new hope.

20:34The volunteers work through the night in freezing temperatures.

20:39But as the hours pass, there's little chance of finding any more buried survivors.

20:50The following morning at dawn, the weather clears,

20:53and emergency helicopters from Landek arrive to start airlifting out the injured.

21:00But with so much devastation, the authorities decide to evacuate the village.

21:09It's a massive task, and with so many properties destroyed,

21:13many people are left homeless and must spend the night in the local sports hall.

21:20The American and German militaries offer assistance.

21:24Two days later, Black Hawk helicopters fly in from bases in Germany.

21:39Survivor Christa Kapellner is one of the first to be evacuated.

21:43As she recovers from her ordeal in hospital,

21:45her thoughts turn to her missing husband, Helmut.

21:50After a while, it dawned on me what must have happened.

21:53I had worked it out for myself by then.

21:56If he'd not been found yet, he simply could not have survived that cold.

22:07When the rescue team finds Helmut's body,

22:09he's just 50 meters from the spot where they rescued Christa.

22:14Helmut is one of 31 victims who die in Galtur.

22:20Many more are injured.

22:27The disaster attracts international attention.

22:31With 60 people killed in a series of avalanches,

22:34the latest struck Tuesday in the small town of Galtur.

22:38News crews descend on the stricken Alpine,

22:41Avalanche expert Art Mears from Colorado flies in by helicopter.

22:47With over 25 years' experience,

22:49Mears understands all too well the devastation that an avalanche can wreak.

22:56But the destruction in Galtur horrifies even him.

22:59You could still see pieces of people's lives embedded in the debris.

23:05Dolls, somebody's hairbrush.

23:09This was still visible, slowly melting out of the debris.

23:13And, of course, there was extensive devastation to the buildings.

23:17The destruction in Galtur was a major event in the history of aviation.

23:22The destruction in Galtur was a major event in the history of aviation.

23:26There was extensive devastation to the buildings.

23:30There were a lot of obvious signs that something large

23:33and with a great deal of force and energy had come off the mountainside.

23:43But what puzzles Mears and other experts

23:45is that the avalanche penetrates the heart of the village,

23:48the one part of Galtur everyone thinks is avalanche safe.

23:52Yet it's here that the avalanche claims most of its victims.

24:00It's clear the computer model dividing Galtur into three hazard zones failed hopelessly.

24:11What's more, the same model is used throughout the Alps,

24:14leaving thousands of mountain communities and tourists potentially at risk.

24:23February, 1999.

24:26A massive avalanche slices through the ski resort of Galtur in the Austrian mountains.

24:33The center of the village is supposed to be avalanche safe.

24:39But within three minutes, 31 people are dead and many more injured.

24:44So what went wrong?

24:48By rewinding the events of that fateful day,

24:51and analyzing in detail the official investigation,

24:54we can now reveal what happened at Galtur.

25:03Our advanced computer simulation will take us where no camera can go,

25:07into the heart of the Galtur avalanche.

25:11The day after the disaster,

25:13the Tyrolean prosecutor appoints Paul Fearn and Stefan Margret as chief investigators.

25:19Both men are from the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche.

25:25The scale of the destruction shocks Margret.

25:31Galtur gave me the impression that the avalanche was going to kill us.

25:36Galtur gave me the impression of a war zone.

25:39There were many helicopters flying around,

25:42completely destroyed houses,

25:44big heaps of snow where they were still looking for victims,

25:47and hundreds of damaged cars.

25:49It was indeed a terrible sight.

25:56The first step for the investigators is to assess why the avalanche is so destructive.

26:05It's clear that Galtur's avalanche hazard zones totally failed.

26:13Scientists calculated the hazard zones on a worst-case scenario,

26:16based on studies of 150 years of avalanche activity in the valley.

26:21But this avalanche has swept through the high-risk red zone,

26:25continued through the medium-risk yellow zone,

26:28and penetrated the green zone, the very center of Galtur.

26:35Fern is determined to find out just how big this avalanche actually was.

26:40He starts with the basics.

26:42He studies the weather data to check out the snowfall

26:45and see if there's anything out of the ordinary.

26:49The usual weather in wintertime, especially in January,

26:52is a mix of snowfalls and then nice weather.

26:55That was the case this year.

26:57We didn't have anything unusual.

27:00But when Fern checks weather reports for the end of January 1999,

27:04he spots something intriguing.

27:10On January 26th, low pressure over northern Italy

27:13creates four days of heavy precipitation in the Alps.

27:19At the same time, a high-pressure front of cold air sweeps down from the Arctic.

27:24The two weather systems collide,

27:26and as the cold front meets the warmer, wetter front,

27:29they create snow.

27:31Huge amounts of snow.

27:38Similar weather conditions occur throughout much of February.

27:44Fern calculates that snowfall for the area is an incredible 3.8 meters,

27:49six times the seasonal average.

27:52Enough to create a massive avalanche.

28:10To find out exactly how large the avalanche is,

28:13Fern and Margret must fly to the very spot where the massive snow broke away.

28:17The summit of the Grieskopf mountain,

28:19the summit of the Grieskopf mountain,

28:211,170 meters above Galtur.

28:29But just two days after the avalanche,

28:31the snow is still extremely unstable.

28:34It's a dangerous mission.

28:43Fern measures the size of the fracture zone,

28:45the site where the avalanche broke away from the mountain.

28:49It's over twice the size he expects.

28:53Margret is so amazed, he takes this photograph.

28:57At its widest, it's a staggering 4.5 meters.

29:02On this basis, Fern calculates that the avalanche weighs an incredible 170,000 tons.

29:08An avalanche on this slope should weigh no more than 70,000 tons.

29:14Fern realizes that even the most continuous snowfall

29:17in the weeks leading up to the disaster

29:19can't explain the size of this avalanche.

29:23The question is, where has the extra snow come from?

29:30The investigators return to the weather records.

29:33They find that between January 27th and February 23rd,

29:37strong northwesterly winds pound the Galtur region.

29:41High on the mountains, these winds travel at 120 kilometers per hour,

29:46enough to move up to 30 tons of snow in just a few hours.

29:53Much of this snow gets blown from surrounding slopes

29:56onto the mountain ridges above Galtur.

30:01The wind is an extremely important architect in the formation of avalanches.

30:05It was an important factor in the formation of the avalanche.

30:09It was an important factor at Galtur.

30:11We had the mountain ridge above Galtur

30:15that was oriented perfectly to collect snow from northwesterly winds.

30:21The power of the wind, combined with the orientation of Grieskopf Mountain,

30:25causes an extra 2 meters of snow to collect above the village.

30:34But the amount of snow creates yet another puzzle for the investigators.

30:39A 170,000 ton snow ridge would not normally be able to support itself.

30:44It would break off long before it got this big.

30:48So why didn't it?

30:55Usually avalanches release before they get 4.5 meters deep like they were at Galtur.

31:014.5 meters is 15 feet, and that's a lot of snow.

31:10Every mountain peak has one or more snow caps,

31:13which form when successive layers of snow fall on top of each other.

31:19Some layers are made of snow crystals that are weaker than others.

31:28When snow builds on a weak layer, that layer can give way,

31:32causing the snow on top to slide off and trigger an avalanche.

31:40Big avalanches are rare because the weak layer usually gives way

31:44before the layers on top become too thick.

31:51If the layer had been very weak, you would have had smaller avalanches

31:55released at several different times instead of a single one building up.

32:00So why didn't the weak layer give way sooner?

32:07When Paul Fearn analyzes the weak layer, he hits upon something strange.

32:13The ice crystals on the top of the mountain peak

32:16are not the same as the ones on the bottom of the mountain peak.

32:20They are not the same as the ones on the bottom of the mountain peak.

32:24They are not the same as the ones on the bottom of the mountain peak.

32:28The ice crystals are much more strongly bonded than in a typical weak layer.

32:35Fearn knows such strongly bonded crystals can be formed

32:38when snow melts and then refreezes.

32:43But how could this have happened high in the Alps in the middle of winter?

32:50Fearn rechecks the temperature records, and they confirm his hunch.

32:54Temperatures between January 29th and February 4th

32:57rose from minus 20 degrees Celsius to 4 degrees above freezing,

33:01warm enough for the snow to melt.

33:08But by February 5th, the temperature plummets to below zero again,

33:12and the snow above Gautur refreezes.

33:15It causes the formation of strongly bonded crystals,

33:19making this weak layer freakishly strong.

33:25I think the most unusual aspect of the weak layer at Gautur

33:29was that it really wasn't that weak.

33:33At 3.59 p.m. on February 23rd, 1999,

33:37the weak layer finally gives way,

33:40releasing 170,000 tons of snow with disastrous consequences.

33:54But does this new evidence explain why the avalanche caused most destruction

33:58in the supposedly safe center of Gautur?

34:07The investigation team feeds the new data

34:09into a computer simulation of the avalanche.

34:14The result is mystifying.

34:16The computer predicts that this avalanche would still stop

34:19before it reaches the green zone.

34:25Yet the destruction in Gautur's center

34:28is irrefutable evidence of a huge and devastating avalanche.

34:36Fern knows he must track down a killer no one ever expected,

34:40an avalanche with the power to strike at the very heart of Gautur.

34:45This time he goes through the eyewitness accounts looking for clues,

34:49and an even more complicated picture emerges.

34:55One witness recalls seeing the avalanche heading directly towards his house

34:59in distinct waves of snow.

35:05These waves are characteristic of what scientists call a powder avalanche.

35:10Powder avalanches can have a density of up to 20 times that of air.

35:15They can travel at speeds of up to 417 kilometers per hour.

35:25But as well as the top layer of powder snow,

35:28the evidence points to a bottom layer of dense, heavy snow,

35:32proof that this was a complex avalanche.

35:43This presents a major problem for the scientists.

35:46Their hazard zone computer model can only accurately track the path

35:50of a classic alpine avalanche.

35:54They simply don't have the data to predict the behavior

35:57of the more complex avalanche that struck Gautur.

36:01The investigation grinds to a halt.

36:08Then their luck turns.

36:11They learn of a daring experiment that casts light

36:14on the behavior of multilayered avalanches.

36:18Just two weeks before the Gautur disaster,

36:21a team of Austrian and Swiss scientists set out

36:24for Mount Krater Besse in Switzerland.

36:27They're going to set off an avalanche deliberately

36:30and record how it moves down the mountain.

36:33Two Doppler avalanche radars transmit short pulses of microwave energy

36:37that will document the avalanche's progress second by second.

36:43It's a highly dangerous experiment.

36:46The avalanche will be heading straight for them.

36:49They are inside a reinforced concrete bunker,

36:521,300 meters beneath the mountain peak.

36:55A helicopter drops explosive charges to trigger the avalanche.

37:00The scientists' own film reveals what happens next.

37:08An enormous slab of snow breaks away from the mountain

37:11and rampages out of control downhill.

37:15As the huge wall of snow heads towards them,

37:18they hastily shut the hatches just in time.

37:21The avalanche engulfs the bunker.

37:31The avalanche is much larger than they ever expected.

37:34Now they need to find out why.

37:37They examine the data from the two Doppler radars,

37:40and with the new information,

37:42the scientists can see inside an avalanche in full descent.

37:48The bunker experiment reveals that as the avalanche cascades

37:51down the side of the mountain,

37:53it picks up fresh layers of snow that lie in its path.

38:00Scientists call this process exoskeletons.

38:04Scientists call this process entrainment.

38:09A crude way to describe entrainment

38:11would be being out on a slope that's all wet

38:14and rolling a snowball down the slope,

38:16and the snowball gets bigger and bigger

38:18as it goes to the bottom of the hill.

38:20In other words, the snow that got to the bottom of the steep part

38:24of the avalanche path could be two or three or four times

38:28as large as the avalanche that began.

38:34The Crater Besser experiment astounds the scientists.

38:37They now know an avalanche can pick up 400 tonnes of snow

38:41every second of its descent.

38:48With this new information and our advanced computer simulation,

38:52we can now reveal exactly what happened

38:55as we count down those final seconds from disaster.

39:04January 26th, 1999.

39:07Heavy snowfall hits the Galtur region for four days.

39:14From January 29th through to February 4th,

39:17temperatures rise.

39:19Snow begins to melt,

39:21creating a weak layer on the snow cap above Galtur.

39:24February 5th.

39:26Temperatures suddenly drop,

39:28and for the next 19 days the Austrian Alps endure

39:32unseasonably high snowfall.

39:36Winds of 120 km per hour help to build up a huge snowpack

39:40on the mountain above Galtur.

39:44February 23rd.

39:46The weak layer beneath supports an unusually large burden of snow,

39:50but only for so long.

39:55Two minutes to disaster.

39:58A giant snow slab estimated to weigh 170,000 tonnes,

40:02the equivalent of 428 fully laden jumbo jets,

40:06breaks away from the mountain.

40:09Galtur lies directly in its path.

40:2060 seconds to disaster.

40:22The avalanche rushes down the mountain,

40:25Calculations now show it increases in size

40:28by an estimated 20,000 tonnes.

40:32It reaches a top speed of 417 km per hour.

40:444.01.

40:46Disaster strikes Galtur.

40:49The enormous force penetrates the village's three zones,

40:52including the green safe zone.

41:044.02.

41:06The avalanche finally runs out of power.

41:09Galtur is in ruins,

41:11and 56 people are buried under tonnes of snow and ice.

41:17Investigators now have to find a way out.

41:21Investigators now know why the monster avalanche decimated Galtur,

41:25but they still need to solve one final piece of the puzzle.

41:29Why did the worst destruction occur inside the green zone,

41:33the place everyone believed was the safest?

41:394.00pm.

41:41The avalanche, weighing 170,000 tonnes,

41:44strikes the outskirts of Galtur.

41:47The heavy, dense layer of snow hits buildings with an enormous force,

41:51the equivalent of a 25-tonne truck hitting a brick wall at 80 km per hour.

42:00But the upper, lighter layer of powder snow is travelling at 417 km per hour

42:05and penetrates a further 100 metres into Galtur's safe zone.

42:12Although it carries less force than the bottom layer,

42:15it throws Christa and Helmut Kappelner 50 metres.

42:21This powder avalanche blasts through windows and doors,

42:24rapidly filling buildings with fine snow.

42:30It engulfs the priest's house, where Maria Wolf is working.

42:353.00pm.

42:44At 4.01pm, powder snow envelops more houses in the safe green zone.

42:49Many are lightweight buildings that weren't made to withstand the power of an avalanche.

42:56As the enormous pressure builds up inside,

42:59whole chalets explode,

43:02as if detonated by bombs.

43:124.02pm.

43:14The powder snow packs one last killer punch.

43:17When it settles, it compacts and sets rock hard.

43:21In situations that I've observed,

43:23where powder clouds in small to moderate and sometimes large avalanches

43:28have been compressed against solid objects like trees,

43:31the material from the powder cloud has been compressed to a density so high,

43:37and a strength so high,

43:39that you could barely break the surface with a knife blade.

43:45It's this compressed powder that encases Christa in her icy tomb.

43:55Snow was as hard as concrete.

43:57I tried to push against the snow.

44:02Those people buried by the powder layer face asphyxiation within an average of 40 minutes.

44:11When the powder snow sets, rescue efforts become virtually impossible.

44:22Christa's survival is a miracle.

44:24An upturned car provided her with a pocket of air that lasts for three hours.

44:32Her husband Helmut, however, is not so lucky.

44:40Years later, Christa Karpelner is still under treatment for spinal injuries.

44:45But the trauma of her ordeal and the loss of her husband has left deeper scars.

44:53But life goes on, and I need to look forward and be grateful for the time I spent with my husband.

45:02The Galtur Avalanche is over in less than three minutes.

45:07In that time, it causes the death of 31 people,

45:10injures many more, and rips the heart out of this peaceful mountain community.

45:16Scientists calculate that the freak combination of circumstances

45:20creating such a destructive avalanche is unlikely to be repeated in Galtur in the next 200 years.

45:27But the authorities responsible for all Austrian mountain communities are taking no chances.

45:34They build huge defences to protect the village.

45:38An avalanche barrier two metres thick and a wall 360 metres long and seven metres high

45:44now confront the alpine range.

45:48And high above the village on the mountain ridge,

45:51And high above the village on the mountain ridge,

45:5311 kilometres of fencing prevents the build-up of large slabs of snow.

46:00It should stop such enormous avalanches in the future.

46:04The Galtur example was, I hate to say it, but it was actually useful.

46:08But we have to learn from the mistakes,

46:11and this is a process that continues and will continue in the future.

46:15The hard lessons learnt at Galtur have created new levels of understanding

46:19in the field of avalanche prediction throughout the world.

46:24300 people on average are still killed by avalanches each year.

46:28But the tragedy at Galtur has helped to ensure that people who live, work and play in the mountains

46:34are now safer than ever before.

46:45www.galtur.se

46:47www.galtur.se

46:49www.galtur.se

46:51www.galtur.se

46:53www.galtur.se

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