OCR Text |
Show 10 An earlier time than Saturday is unlikely, for the tracks at the time the film was taken would have experienced more melt and thus would have been less clearly recognizable. Whether still other ski tracks had been present in the upper part of the Val Selin basin, as mentioned and designated on the accompanying photos, could not be determined from the film. C. Release of the Secondary Avalanche On the basis of the testimony, it had been assumed up to this point that the secondary avalanche must have been mainly released by the shearing action of the primary avalanche in the Val Selin Basin. This review was contradicted by the film, in which the'nose of the second avalanche had reached the foot of the slope only a split second after that of the primary avalanche. Shearing as the cause of release is thus excluded, for the two slopes have approximately the same length. The second avalanche must have been fractured through ground vibrations or shock transmitted through the snow cover. Because this disturbance undoubtedly could have been much weaker than the loading of 14 moving skiers, it appears to demonstrate that avalanche conditions on this southeast slope had been much more precarious than on the opposite southwest slope of the primary avalanche. This deduction agrees with many observations made during the past winter, that the southwest slopes in relation to the southeast ones had exhibited more favorable conditions ( for stabi1ity-- tr.) 2. After the initiator of the undertaking and leader of the accident party, W. Bogner, had been brought under indictment by motion of the investiga ting judge, he was acquitted from blame and punishment by the district court |