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Show INTRODUCTION 1 Each year the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research compiles a comprehensive report on snow and avalanches in the Swiss Alps. This report, entitled " Schnee und Lawinen in den Schweizeralpen," is published about a year and a half after the winter in question. Part of the report is a detailed compilation of avalanche accident case histories. From the report for the winter of 1963/ 64 we have translated the account of an accident which had widespread publicity both in the U. S. and abroad. This is the accident which caused the death of Buddy Werner, America's outstanding racer, and Barbara Henneberger from Germany. Because many conflicting reports were circulated here about the accident and its subsequent legal ramifications, we have translated the official Swiss Government report in order to present to the American skiers an accurate account of the event. Tiiib case history is NO. 3.5 in tne iwiss compilation tor lyb^/ bH. A dense mountain population and extensive avalanche terrain generates in Switzerland a much higher avalanche hazard than we know in the United States. There are many more accidents. Since the Winter of 19^+ 0/ 41 there have been an average of 24 deaths a year in Switzerland from snow avalanches. In 1963/ 64 there were 37 accidents involving 105 people, of whom 15 were injured and 33 died. But even among these many misfortunes, the Werner- Henneberger accident occasioned extraordinary interest and in Switzerland set an unusual precedent, as the report shows. No. 33 Ap r i1 12, 1964 Ski Racer Accident in the Engadine The victims: Miss Henneberger, born October 4, 1940, student from Munich; Bud W. Werner, born February 2, 1936, student from Lakewood, USA. |