8 Most Destructive Avalanches in History
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Snowstorms, earthquakes & other strong weather conditions lead to the strongest avalanches in history. Let's take a look at some climbers who had to fight against masses of snow while climbing a mountain.
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8 Kohistan Avalanche
This avalanche hit the village of Bagaro Serai, in Pakistan, on February 17, 2010. In the days leading up, the village had been experiencing heavy snowstorms. When the avalanche struck, several houses were completely obliterated and the roads leading up to the village were blocked. Volunteers had to hike all night to get to the site of the avalanche. It was difficult for them to coordinate their efforts since the mountain terrain interfered with radio reception.
7 Mitsumata Avalanche
This is one of the worst in the history of Japan. On January 9, 1918, a massive wall of snow and ice hit the small village of Mitsumata. Even though incidents of such proportions haven’t taken place in the area since, some experts are concerned. The 1918 incident had been caused by heavy snowfall. Similar conditions occurred on the slopes 10 more times between 1918 and 1971. Some measures would be to install snow fences on the mountainside and the frequent practice of avalanche-related drills.
Number 6 Wellington Avalanche
The Wellington avalanche is the worst of its kind to ever take place in the United States. Towards the end of winter 1910, the railroad community of Wellington faced a terrible blizzard. Every day about a foot of snow would fall on the hour. People were blocked inside and trains were trapped in the depo. On February 28, the snowy weather was replaced by a warm and humid wind. A thunderstorm hit Windy Mountain and a lightning strike caused a large slab of snow to break lose. It struck the town’s railroad depo, where most of the passengers and crew were asleep in their trains. The impact sent the trains almost 150 feet downhill. Some people were pulled from the entangled wreckage, but adverse weather conditions meant that efforts had to be delayed. It wasn’t until the middle of summer that all they were recovered.
5 Winter of 1950
In the winter of 1950 to 1951 atypical weather conditions in the Alps led to an unprecedented number of avalanches. The intersection of an Atlantic warm front with a polar cold front caused high precipitation and snow deposits several feet in height. A series of 649 avalanches destroyed hundreds of buildings.
4 Afghanistan Avalanche
In 2010 a series of avalanches were triggered by a freak storm in the Hindu Kush Mountains. They struck the area close to the Salang tunnel, north of Kabul. Both sides of the tunnel were affected and thousands of people were trapped in their vehicles. It also used helicopters to drop food and supplies to those trapped in their vehicles. On March 4, 2012, at least three avalanches hit the Badakhshan province. A small village of several hundred people was in the path of one the avalanches. The village was so remote that there weren’t any roads to it and people in the area generally travelled on foot or horseback. Over the course of four days in February, 40 avalanches hit the region.
3 White Friday
In 1916, a series of avalanches, remembered collectively as White Friday, hit the Alps. By the middle of December 1916, heavy snowfall and a sudden thaw in the mountains created the optimum conditions for avalanches. On December 13, about 35 million cubic feet of ice and snow plunged from the mountain directly onto the barracks.
2 Huascaran Avalanches
Mount Huascaran in Peru is a beautiful natural sight with a dark history. Six million tons of ice and snow hurtled down the mountain at an unusual speed, covering 9.5 miles in just a few minutes. People who’d initially heard the crack believed they had more time to evacuate. The avalanche wrought havoc on several towns and villages. The towns of Huarascucho and Ranrahirca were lost beneath 40 feet of debris and snow. Additionally, properties and crops worth millions of dollars were completely destroyed. Less than ten years later, another avalanche ravaged the area once again. On May 31, 1970, the Ancash earthquake, which reached the maximum magnitude on the Mercalli scale, caused a substantial part of the mountain’s north side to collapse. Almost 3 billion cubic feet of mud, ice and rock, came barreling towards the towns of Yungay and Ranrahirca.
1 Annapurna Avalanche
It’s quite clear that the ruthless Annapurna allows almost no room for error, which is what makes the events of April 18, 2012, even more impressive. On that day Turkish photographer Tunc Fundik captured the exact moment an avalanche was hurtling towards a group of climbers. The group consisted of a Mexican couple and two Sherpas who were crossing a section of the mountain.