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At the Austrian alpine village of Galtür, snow on the mountains surrounding the village build up. Due to the changing temperature during the month, a strong but brittle layer of ice forms under the snow. On the day of the disaster, the ice layer collapses and the building ice bank slips down the slope and forms a powder avalanche. Two minutes later, it hits Galtur and buries 57 people in the snow, killing 31 of them.
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00:00A picturesque Austrian resort in the height of the ski season.
00:044,000 tourists enjoy the beautiful alpine scenery.
00:10Suddenly, a massive avalanche shatters the peace.
00:14Within three minutes, a 100-meter wall of snow
00:17devastates the village of Galtur.
00:20It smashes buildings and buries dozens of people.
00:2431 die, all in a village that avalanche experts officially
00:29designated as safe.
00:32Now, using our advanced computer simulation,
00:35we reveal exactly what went wrong in Galtur.
00:39Disasters don't just happen.
00:41They're a chain of critical events.
00:43Unravel the fateful moments in those final seconds from disaster.
00:58Europe, Austria, Galtur, February, 1999.
01:06The traditional ski resort of Galtur is a popular winter playground high up in the Alps.
01:20It lies directly below the Griskopf mountain, which towers over Galtur at a height of 2,754 meters.
01:30But this tranquil beauty comes at a price.
01:32In winter, heavy snowfall and high winds batter the village.
01:37Galtur lies in the heart of avalanche country.
01:43Nevertheless, the steep slopes are a magnet for winter sports enthusiasts.
01:48In peak season, Galtur attracts up to 4,000 visitors a week from across Europe, promoting itself as the resort
01:55with skiing on the doorstep.
01:59That's why Christa and Helmut Kapellner come here from Dusseldorf in Germany every year.
02:08Galtur is very small, and the ski slopes are right by the village.
02:13You hardly need to cover any distance at all to get to the slopes.
02:17You can ski right up to your front door.
02:24The easy access to the ski slopes makes Galtur the perfect family resort.
02:3333-year-old British firefighter Jason Tate, his wife and two children, are staying in a chalet on the eastern
02:39edge of Galtur.
02:42His 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.
02:54The holiday was a kind of fit for a lifetime, as it were.
02:57We'd saved up all the previous year, and it was our first time away skiing with the kids.
03:03That's what was important to us.
03:08But their trip of a lifetime is far from ideal.
03:12Apart from an unseasonally warm period between January 29th and February 4th, the weather is terrible.
03:20By 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.
03:37Krista takes a home video camera to capture the record snowfall, now into its third week.
03:46You could hardly see any sign of the village, of its houses, nothing but snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.
03:53And the snow is not just falling heavily on the village.
03:57High above Galtur, snow continues to build up on the Gritzkopf mountain at an alarming rate of 15 centimeters a
04:04day.
04:08Cold air is moving towards the Alps, which means continuous snowfall.
04:12Above that, snow and more snow.
04:15The white snowstorm outside doesn't want to stop.
04:21The authorities issue a series of extreme weather warnings, and they shut down the ski slopes.
04:29Then, on February 18th, the threat of avalanches forces the authorities to close the only road leading into Galtur.
04:38Almost 4,000 people are cut off from the outside world.
04:45By February 23rd, Jason Tate and his family are still trapped in Galtur.
04:50They should have gone home three days ago.
04:52Every morning we'd go out and clear the cars off and clear the drive because of the continuous snow, just
04:58in case we'd get a window of opportunity to get out.
05:01The weather continues to deteriorate.
05:03And now it's more than just heavy snowfall.
05:06Huge winds batter the cutoff valley with recorded speeds of 120 kilometers per hour.
05:13This extreme wind was very bad.
05:16It was not just a matter of hearing the wind howl.
05:20It hurt your face, too, with shards.
05:31At 7 a.m. on February 23rd, Galtur's mayor calls an urgent meeting of his avalanche emergency team.
05:38They believe the risk of an avalanche is now high.
05:43Galtur's authorities log on to the avalanche warning service.
05:46It confirms their fears.
05:48The 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.
06:01But the center of the village has never been hit by a major avalanche in living memory
06:05and is classified as an official safe zone.
06:10So the committee decides that as long as people stay within the boundaries,
06:14they 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.
06:33Galtur has three color-coded avalanche hazard zones.
06:37In the high-risk red zone surrounding the village's outskirts, no building is allowed.
06:43In the potentially dangerous yellow zone, all houses and hotels are reinforced.
06:49The green zone, the heart of the village, is considered safe,
06:52a place beyond the reach of any avalanche.
06:58The heavy snow continues throughout the day.
07:01As more and more snow piles up on the mountains overlooking the village,
07:06small avalanches start to appear on the lower slopes.
07:12With little to do, Krista and her husband Helmut venture out to the Café Gunther.
07:17They stay within the safe green zone, but Krista feels anxious.
07:23I did not feel safe at all, and I was afraid to leave the house.
07:28You constantly look up at the mountains on your left and right and think,
07:32oh my god, I do hope it's safe.
07:35So I was really anxious, thinking, I hope we get out of this alive.
07:39I have never lived.
07:43Galtura is now experiencing its heaviest snowfall since records began 100 years ago.
07:48An astonishing 30 centimeters falls on this one day alone.
07:53The freak weather surprises even the locals.
07:57Maria Wolf is housekeeper to the village priest.
08:00She hasn't seen a winter this bad in her entire life.
08:093.50 p.m., Krista and Helmut leave the Café Gunther and head back to their hotel.
08:15It's a 20-minute walk in thick snow.
08:22Jason Tate and his family are in their chalet on the outskirts of Galtur.
08:31Maria Wolf is in the laundry room of the priest's house next to the church.
08:36She's nearly finished her work, but something feels wrong.
08:40I was just about to go into the presbytery chapel to say a rosary,
08:45because somehow it seemed as if something was about to happen.
08:51I had a feeling that there was something in the air.
08:55Maria is right to feel uneasy.
08:57High on the Griskopf mountain, the snowpack creaks under its enormous weight.
09:04It breaks away.
09:06A massive avalanche is headed straight for the village.
09:12High above the Austrian ski resort of Galtur,
09:15a massive overhang of snow buckles under the strain of three weeks of almost continuous snowfall.
09:233.59 p.m., an avalanche breaks off and heads down the mountain.
09:44The village of Galtur lies directly in its path.
09:52Jason and Jonathan Tate are with their children in the chalet on the outskirts of the village.
09:57All of a sudden, you sort of hear this rumbling, very, very low, as if a train is going past
10:05in the distance.
10:11Jonathan pushes the children under a table, terrified that the windows are about to blow in.
10:17It happens so fast that all of a sudden the house just rocks, and then it's like being in a
10:22washing machine.
10:23The elements are just battering the house, and I was just concerned that the windows couldn't sustain that kind of
10:29battering.
10:33A wave of snow, 100 meters high, crashes through Galtur's outskirts.
10:38Here in the outer yellow zone, buildings are made to resist avalanches.
10:42The avalanche obliterates many of them in seconds.
10:56Fifty seconds after 4 p.m., housekeeper Maria Wolf is about to leave the priest's house when the avalanche surges
11:03towards the center of the village.
11:21A flurry of snow, and then I can't remember anything.
11:27Three seconds later, the avalanche thunders down the street as Christa and Helmut Kappelner return to their hotel.
11:35Christa feels a huge force hit her in the back.
11:41The tremendous power of the avalanche somersaults her 50 meters down the street.
11:48Instinctively I covered my face with both hands and pitched forward.
11:574.02 p.m.
12:01The avalanche finally peters out 100 meters inside the green zone,
12:05the safe zone that is the center of Galtur.
12:11The deadly wall of snow has devastated this once tranquil village.
12:24It has thrown and crushed cars.
12:27Snow buries entire streets and destroys houses.
12:32No one knows how many people are trapped.
12:42Shocked villagers immediately get to work to try to locate survivors.
12:46The rescuers have no idea where people are buried.
12:50They work in lines, probing the snow with metal rods to help locate hidden bodies.
13:06Jason and Jonathan Tate's chalet is at the very edge of the avalanche path.
13:10It escapes undamaged.
13:14The brothers set out to see if they can help with the rescue effort.
13:20And we kept passing people, coming away from where it had been,
13:24holding their heads and shaking their heads, my leg.
13:26It was quite concerning.
13:27We thought, well, you know, what have we got walking into here?
13:30What faced us was absolutely shocking.
13:34Basically, there was just a huge amount of snow where half of the village had previously been.
13:39The whole hotel was at 45 degrees, literally uprooted and turned over.
13:47To see a whole building turned over like that is something to behold, the power of nature.
13:55Snow even fills the buildings left standing, burying people inside.
14:04Maria Wolf is one of them, trapped under snow in the laundry room.
14:08Only the sink saves her from being totally buried.
14:14But she's unconscious.
14:16She needs help, fast.
14:20365 meters away, the full force of the avalanche has blasted German tourist Krista off her feet
14:26and along the street.
14:29As the avalanche subsides, Krista finds herself trapped in an icy tomb.
14:36She was standing next to Helmut when the avalanche struck and is sure that he'll rescue her.
14:42As an experienced skier, Krista knows that her survival depends on being found quickly.
14:47A pocket of air is keeping her alive.
14:50But for how long?
14:53There was a smell of mold.
14:56As if one had been buried alive.
14:59That's what it felt like.
15:06Maria is luckier, a rescue team finds her in the priest's basement.
15:13Walter Kirk, a local doctor, rushes to the scene.
15:20All I knew was that a male voice said, stay calm, Maria.
15:26And the doctor asked me, can you move your feet?
15:29And I said, yes, both of them.
15:35Dr. Kirk begins emergency treatment.
15:38Maria has fractured ribs and back injuries, but seems numb to the pain.
15:42She 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 Krista and Helmut.
16:01Their survival now depends on a speedy rescue effort.
16:08As darkness falls, the temperature plummets to minus nine degrees Celsius, well below freezing
16:14point. But a greater threat than cold is asphyxiation.
16:19For people buried under the snow, the difference between life and death is now a matter of minutes.
16:27If the rescuers don't find victims within 40 minutes, it's usually too late.
16:36The village mayor is desperate for help.
16:41Frantic calls go out to the emergency services in Landek, the nearest town, 40 kilometers away.
16:50But the calls are in vain.
16:54Helicopters are ready and waiting, but the snowstorm has cut off the entire valley.
17:00The weather grounds the choppers.
17:09Galtur is on its own. As the clock ticks away, the victims' survival now relies on the rescue efforts of
17:15volunteers.
17:194.45 pm. 46 minutes after the start of the avalanche.
17:24And for German skier Krista Kaepelner, 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 and witnesses the extent of the disaster.
17:55It's just frantic mayhem. There were casualties everywhere. You couldn't see the carpet for bodies or people working on them.
18:03Jason desperately tries to help the survivors. But 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.
18:16It's 5 pm. All over Galtur, volunteers desperately probe the snow for the missing.
18:23But as minutes turn into hours, it increasingly becomes a search for the dead.
18:33Krista Kaepelner knows that the oxygen in her air pocket is getting dangerously low.
18:39She realises she must try to dig herself out. But it's an impossible task.
18:47The snow was as hard as concrete, just like pushing against a concrete wall.
18:52So I was totally unable to do anything at all for myself.
18:56All I could do was wait to be rescued by other people.
19:03She's unaware that a rescue team is close by.
19:07With them, a search dog, Heiko, is trained in avalanche rescue.
19:16Krista begins to lose consciousness as the last of her oxygen is exhausted.
19:29Suddenly, Heiko picks up a scent around the bumper of a car buried in the snow.
19:36The team starts to dig frantically, hoping they might find a survivor.
19:41It's incredibly hard going. The snow is solidly compacted.
19:47It wasn't the soft kind of snow that you'd expect to go out and play in.
19:51It was like concrete. It had set and it was quite difficult to try and dig through.
19:57The team dig deeper under the upturned car.
20:01Heiko becomes more and more agitated.
20:067pm. Krista has been buried for three hours.
20:13The rescuers are three meters down when they spot floating.
20:17It's Krista.
20:19Barely alive, she has severe hypothermia.
20:22She needs medical help urgently.
20:30Finding Krista gives everyone new hope.
20:33The 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 Landec arrive to start airlifting out the injured.
20:59But with so much devastation, the authorities decide to evacuate the village.
21:08It's a massive task, and with so many properties destroyed,
21:12many 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 Krista Kapelner is one of the first to be evacuated.
21:42As she recovers from her ordeal in hospital, her thoughts turn to her missing husband, Helmut.
21:49After a while, it dawned on me what must have happened.
21:52I had worked it out for myself by then.
21:55If he'd not been found yet, he simply could not have survived that cold.
22:06When the rescue team finds Helmut's body, he's just 50 meters from the spot where they rescued Krista.
22:16Helmut is one of 31 victims who die in Galtur.
22:22Many more are injured.
22:29The disaster attracts international attention.
22:33With 60 people killed in a series of avalanches, the latest struck Tuesday in the small town of Galtur.
22:40News crews descend on the stricken Alpine village.
22:49Avalanche expert Art Mears from Colorado flies in by helicopter.
22:54With over 25 years' experience, Mears understands all too well the devastation that an avalanche can wreak.
23:04But the destruction in Galtur horrifies even him.
23:11You could still see pieces of people's lives embedded in the debris.
23:18Dolls, somebody's hairbrush.
23:20This was still visible, slowly melting out of the debris.
23:24And, of course, there was extensive devastation to the buildings.
23:29There were a lot of obvious signs that something large and with a great deal of force and energy had
23:35come off the mountainside.
23:42But what puzzles Mears and other experts is that the avalanche penetrates the heart of the village, the one part
23:48of Galtur everyone thinks is avalanche safe.
23:54Yet it's here that the avalanche claims most of its victims.
24:02It's clear the computer model dividing Galtur into three hazard zones failed hopelessly.
24:12What's more, the same model is used throughout the Alps, leaving thousands of mountain communities and tourists potentially at risk.
24:25February 1999, a massive avalanche slices through the ski resort of Galtur in the Austrian mountains.
24:33The centre of the village is supposed to be avalanche safe.
24:39But within three minutes, thirty-one people are dead and many more injured.
24:44So what went wrong?
24:49By rewinding the events of that fateful day and analysing in detail the official investigation, we can now reveal what
24:56happened at Galtur.
25:03Our advanced computer simulation will take us where no camera can go, into the heart of the Galtur avalanche.
25:18The day after the disaster, the Tyrellian prosecutor appoints Paul Fern and Stefan Margret as chief investigators.
25:26Both men are from the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche.
25:31The scale of the destruction shocks Margret.
25:37Galtur gave me the impression of a war zone.
25:41There were many helicopters flying around, completely destroyed houses, big heaps of snow where they were still looking for victims,
25:48and hundreds of damaged cars.
25:50It was indeed a terrible sight.
25:57The first step for the investigators is to assess why the avalanche is so destructive.
26:04It's clear that Galtur's avalanche hazard zones totally failed.
26:12Scientists 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,
26:24continued through the medium-risk yellow zone,
26:27and penetrated the green zone, the very center of Galtur.
26:34Fern is determined to find out just how big this avalanche actually was.
26:39He starts with the basics.
26:41He studies the weather data to check out the snowfall and see if there's anything out of the ordinary.
26:48The usual weather in wintertime, especially in January, is a mix of snowfalls and then nice weather.
26:55That was the case this year.
26:56We didn't have anything unusual.
27:01But when Fern checks weather reports for the end of January 1999, he spots something intriguing.
27:11On January 26th, low pressure over northern Italy creates four days of heavy precipitation in the Alps.
27:20At the same time, a high-pressure front of cold air sweeps down from the Arctic.
27:25The two weather systems collide, and as the cold front meets the warmer, wetter front,
27:30they create snow.
27:32Huge amounts of snow.
27:39Similar weather conditions occur throughout much of February.
27:44Fern calculates that snowfall for the area is an incredible 3.8 meters,
27:51six times the seasonal average,
27:53enough to create a massive avalanche.
28:11To find out exactly how large the avalanche is,
28:14Fern and Margret must fly to the very spot where the massive snow broke away.
28:18The summit of the Grießkopf mountain,
28:211,170 meters above Galtur.
28:28But just two days after the avalanche,
28:31the snow is still extremely unstable.
28:33It's a dangerous mission.
28:42Fern 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.
28:56At its widest, it's a staggering 4.5 meters.
29:01On this basis,
29:03Fern calculates that the avalanche weighs an incredible 170,000 tons.
29:08An avalanche on this slope should weigh no more than 70,000 tons.
29:13Fern realizes that even the most continuous snowfall
29:17in the weeks leading up to the disaster
29:18can't explain the size of this avalanche.
29:23The question is,
29:24where has the extra snow come from?
29:29The investigators return to the weather records.
29:32They find that between January 27th and February 23rd,
29:36strong northwesterly winds pound the Galtur region.
29:44High on the mountains,
29:46these winds travel at 120 kilometers per hour,
29:49enough to move up to 30 tons of snow in just a few hours.
29:55Much of this snow gets blown from surrounding slopes
29:58onto the mountain ridges above Galtur.
30:03Wind is an extremely important architect
30:06in the formation of avalanches.
30:08It was an important factor at Galtur.
30:10We had the mountain ridge above Galtur
30:15that was oriented perfectly
30:17to collect snow from northwesterly winds.
30:20The power of the wind,
30:21combined with the orientation of Griskopf Mountain,
30:24causes an extra 2 meters of snow
30:26to collect above the village.
30:33But the amount of snow creates
30:35yet another puzzle for the investigators.
30:38A 170,000 ton snow ridge
30:41would not normally be able to support itself.
30:44It would break off long before it got this big.
30:48So why didn't it?
30:54Usually avalanches release
30:57before they get 4 1⁄2 meters deep
30:59like they were at Galtur.
31:004 1⁄2 meters is 15 feet.
31:03And that's a lot of snow.
31:12Every mountain peak has one or more snow caps
31:15which form when successive layers of snow
31:17fall on top of each other.
31:20Some layers are made of snow crystals
31:22that are weaker than others.
31:29When snow builds on a weak layer,
31:32that layer can give way,
31:33causing the snow on top
31:34to slide off
31:35and trigger an avalanche.
31:43Big avalanches are rare
31:45because the weak layer
31:46usually gives way
31:47before the layers on top
31:48become too thick.
31:54If the layer had been very weak,
31:57you would have had smaller avalanches
31:58released at several different times
32:00instead of a single one building up.
32:14So why didn't the weak layer
32:16give way sooner?
32:21When Paul Fern analyzes the weak layer,
32:24he hits upon something strange.
32:27The ice crystals
32:28are much more strongly bonded
32:30than in a typical weak layer.
32:34Fern knows such strongly bonded crystals
32:37can be formed when snow melts
32:39and then refreezes.
32:43But how could this have happened
32:44high in the Alps
32:45in the middle of winter?
32:50Fern rechecks the temperature records
32:52and they confirm his hunch.
32:56Temperatures between January 29th
32:58and February 4th
32:59rose from minus 20 degrees Celsius
33:01to 4 degrees above freezing,
33:03warm enough for the snow to melt.
33:10But by February 5th,
33:12the temperature plummets
33:13to below zero again
33:14and the snow above Galtur refreezes.
33:17It causes the formation
33:19of strongly bonded crystals,
33:21making this weak layer
33:22freakishly strong.
33:24I think the most unusual aspect
33:27of the weak layer at Galtur
33:29was that it really wasn't that weak.
33:33At 3.59 p.m.
33:35on February 23rd, 1999,
33:37the weak layer finally gives way,
33:39releasing 170,000 tons of snow
33:42with disastrous consequences.
33:53But does this new evidence
33:55explain why the avalanche
33:56caused most destruction
33:58in the supposedly safe
33:59center of Galtur?
34:06The investigation team
34:07feeds the new data
34:08into a computer simulation
34:10of the avalanche.
34:13The result is mystifying.
34:16The computer predicts
34:17that this avalanche
34:18would still stop
34:19before it reaches the green zone.
34:26Yet the destruction
34:27in Galtur's center
34:28is irrefutable evidence
34:29of a huge
34:30and devastating avalanche.
34:35Fern knows he must
34:37track down a killer
34:37no one ever expected,
34:39an avalanche with the power
34:41to strike at the very heart
34:42of Galtur.
34:45This time he goes through
34:46the eyewitness accounts
34:47looking for clues
34:48and an even more
34:50complicated picture emerges.
34:55One witness recalls
34:57seeing the avalanche
34:57heading directly
34:58towards his house
34:59in distinct waves of snow.
35:04These waves are characteristic
35:06of what scientists call
35:07a powder avalanche.
35:09Powder avalanches
35:11can have a density
35:12of up to 20 times
35:13that of air.
35:15They can travel at speeds
35:16of up to 417 km per hour.
35:25But as well as the top layer
35:27of powder snow,
35:28the evidence points
35:29to a bottom layer
35:30of dense, heavy snow.
35:32Proof that this
35:33was a complex avalanche.
35:42This presents a major problem
35:44for the scientists.
35:45Their hazard zone
35:46computer model
35:47can only accurately
35:48track the path
35:49of a classic
35:50alpine avalanche.
35:53They simply don't have
35:54the data
35:55to predict the behavior
35:56of the more complex avalanche
35:57that struck Galtur.
36:00The investigation
36:01grinds to a halt.
36:07Then, their luck turns.
36:10They learn
36:10of a daring experiment
36:12that casts light
36:13on the behavior
36:13of multi-layered avalanches.
36:17Just two weeks
36:18before the Galtur disaster,
36:20a team of Austrian
36:21and Swiss scientists
36:22set out for
36:23Mount Crater-Besser
36:24in Switzerland.
36:25They're going to set off
36:27an avalanche deliberately
36:28and record how it moves
36:30down the mountain.
36:31Two Doppler avalanche radars
36:34transmit short pulses
36:35of microwave energy
36:36that will document
36:37the avalanche's progress
36:38second by second.
36:41It's a highly dangerous experiment.
36:44The avalanche will be heading
36:45straight for them.
36:47The team takes cover
36:48inside a reinforced
36:49concrete bunker
36:501,300 meters
36:52beneath the mountain peak.
36:53A helicopter drops
36:55explosive charges
36:56to trigger the avalanche.
36:58The scientist's own film
37:00reveals what happens next.
37:07An enormous slab of snow
37:09breaks away from the mountain
37:10and rampages
37:11out of control downhill.
37:16As the huge wall
37:18of snow heads towards them,
37:19they hastily
37:20shut the hatches
37:21just in time.
37:23the avalanche
37:24engulfs the bunker.
37:32The avalanche is much larger
37:34than they ever expected.
37:36Now,
37:36they need to find out
37:37why.
37:42They examine the data
37:43from the two Doppler radars
37:45and with the new information
37:46the scientists can see
37:47inside an avalanche
37:49in full descent.
37:52The bunker experiment
37:54reveals that as the avalanche
37:55cascades down the side
37:56of the mountain,
37:57it picks up fresh layers
37:58of snow
37:59that lie in its path.
38:04Scientists call this process
38:06entrainment.
38:10A crude way to describe
38:11entrainment
38:12could be being out
38:13on a slope
38:14that's all wet
38:15and rolling a snowball
38:16down the slope
38:17and the snowball
38:17gets bigger and bigger
38:18as it goes
38:19to the bottom of the hill.
38:21In other words,
38:22the snow that got
38:23to the bottom
38:24of the steep part
38:24of the avalanche path
38:25could be two
38:27or three
38:28or four times
38:28as large
38:29as the avalanche
38:30that began.
38:33The Crater-Besser
38:34experiment
38:35astounds the scientists.
38:36They now know
38:37an avalanche
38:38can pick up
38:38400 tons of snow
38:39every second
38:40of its descent.
38:47With this new information
38:49and our advanced
38:50computer simulation,
38:51we can now reveal
38:52exactly what happened
38:53as we count down
38:55those final
38:55seconds from disaster.
39:07January 26th, 1999.
39:09Heavy snowfall
39:10hits the Galtur region
39:12for four days.
39:16From January 29th
39:17through to February 4th,
39:19temperatures rise.
39:20Snow begins to melt,
39:21creating a weak layer
39:22on the snow cap
39:23above Galtur.
39:26February 5th,
39:27temperatures suddenly drop
39:29and for the next 19 days
39:31the Austrian Alps
39:31endure unseasonally
39:33high snowfall.
39:35Winds of 120 km per hour
39:38help to build up
39:39a huge snowpack
39:40on the mountain
39:40above Galtur.
39:44February 23rd,
39:45the weak layer beneath
39:46supports an unusually
39:48large burden of snow,
39:49but only for so long.
39:55two minutes to disaster.
39:59A giant snow slab
40:01estimated to weigh
40:02170,000 tons,
40:04the equivalent of
40:05428 fully laden
40:07jumbo jets,
40:08breaks away
40:09from the mountain.
40:11Galtur lies directly
40:13in its path.
40:2160 seconds to disaster.
40:24The avalanche
40:25rushes down the mountain.
40:28Calculations now show
40:29it increases in size
40:30by an estimated
40:3120,000 tons.
40:34It reaches a top speed
40:36of 417 km per hour.
40:474-0-1.
40:48Disaster strikes Galtur.
40:51The enormous force
40:53penetrates the village's
40:54three zones,
40:55including the green
40:56safe zone.
41:074-0-2.
41:09The avalanche
41:10finally runs out
41:11of power.
41:12Galtur is in ruins,
41:13and 56 people
41:15are buried
41:15under tons
41:16of snow and ice.
41:20Investigators now know
41:22why the monster avalanche
41:23decimated Galtur,
41:24but they still need
41:26to solve
41:26one final piece
41:27of the puzzle.
41:28Why did the worst
41:30destruction occur
41:31inside the green zone,
41:32the place everyone
41:33believed
41:34was the safest?
41:394 p.m.
41:41The avalanche
41:42weighing 170,000 tons
41:44strikes the outskirts
41:45of Galtur.
41:46The heavy,
41:48dense layer of snow
41:48hits buildings
41:49with an enormous force,
41:51the equivalent
41:51of a 25-ton truck
41:53hitting a brick wall
41:54at 80 kilometers per hour.
41:59But the upper,
42:00lighter layer
42:01of powder snow
42:01is traveling
42:02at 417 kilometers
42:04per hour
42:04and penetrates
42:05a further 100 meters
42:07into Galtur's
42:08safe zone.
42:11Although it carries
42:12less force
42:13than the bottom layer,
42:14it throws
42:15Krista and Helmut
42:15Kaepelnur
42:1650 meters.
42:20This powder avalanche
42:21blasts through
42:22windows and doors,
42:23rapidly filling buildings
42:25with fine snow.
42:29It engulfs
42:30the priest's house
42:31where Maria Wolf
42:32is working.
42:33It engulfs the priest's house
42:43at 4.01 p.m.,
42:45powder snow envelops
42:46more houses
42:46in the safe green zone.
42:48Many are lightweight buildings
42:50that weren't made
42:51to withstand
42:51the power of an avalanche.
42:55As the enormous pressure
42:57builds up inside,
42:59whole chalets
43:00explode,
43:01as if detonated
43:02by bombs.
43:114.02 p.m.,
43:13the powder snow
43:14packs one last
43:15killer punch.
43:16When it settles,
43:18it compacts
43:19and sets rock hard.
43:21In situations
43:22that I've observed
43:23where powder clouds
43:24in small to moderate
43:25and sometimes large
43:26avalanches
43:27have been compressed
43:28against solid objects
43:29like trees,
43:30the material
43:31from the powder cloud
43:32has been compressed
43:33to a density
43:34so high
43:36and a strength
43:37so high
43:37that you could barely
43:39break the surface
43:41with a knife blade.
43:44It's this compressed powder
43:45that encases Christa
43:47in her icy tomb.
43:54The snow was as hard
43:55as concrete.
43:57I tried to push
43:58against the snow.
44:03Those people buried
44:04by the powder layer
44:05face asphyxiation
44:06within an average
44:07of 40 minutes.
44:11when the powder snow
44:12sets, rescue efforts
44:14become virtually impossible.
44:22Christa's survival
44:23is a miracle.
44:25An upturned car
44:26provided her
44:27with a pocket of air
44:27that lasts
44:28for three hours.
44:32Her husband, Helmut,
44:33however,
44:34is not so lucky.
44:40Years later,
44:41Christa Kapellner
44:42is still under treatment
44:43for spinal injuries.
44:44But the trauma
44:45of her ordeal
44:46and the loss
44:47of her husband
44:48has left deeper scars.
44:52But life goes on
44:54and I need to look forward
44:56and be grateful
44:56for the time
44:57I spent with my husband.
45:02The Galtur avalanche
45:04is over
45:04in less than three minutes.
45:07In that time
45:08it causes the death
45:09of 31 people,
45:11injures many more
45:12and rips the heart
45:13out of this peaceful
45:14mountain community.
45:16Scientists calculate
45:18that the freak combination
45:19of circumstances
45:20creating such
45:21a destructive avalanche
45:22is unlikely
45:23to be repeated
45:23in Galtur
45:24in the next 200 years.
45:29But the authorities
45:30responsible
45:31for all Austrian
45:32mountain communities
45:33are taking no chances.
45:36They build huge defenses
45:38to protect the village.
45:40An avalanche barrier
45:42two meters thick
45:43and a wall
45:44360 meters long
45:45and seven meters high
45:46now confront
45:47the alpine range.
45:50And high above
45:51the village
45:52on the mountain ridge
45:5311 kilometers
45:54of fencing
45:54prevents the buildup
45:56of large slabs of snow.
45:59It should stop
46:00such enormous avalanches
46:01in the future.
46:03The Galtur example
46:04was,
46:05I hate to say it,
46:06but it was actually
46:07useful.
46:08But we have to learn
46:09from the mistakes
46:10and this is a process
46:12that continues
46:13and will continue
46:14in the future.
46:16The hard lessons
46:17learned at Galtur
46:18have created
46:19new levels
46:20of understanding
46:21in the field
46:21of avalanche prediction
46:22throughout the world.
46:26300 people
46:27on average
46:27are still killed
46:28by avalanches
46:29each year.
46:30But the tragedy
46:31at Galtur
46:31has helped
46:32to ensure
46:33that people
46:33who live,
46:34work and play
46:34in the mountains
46:35are now safer
46:36than ever before.
46:58The Galtur
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