~ Velebit / North Velebit /...

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~ Velebit / North Velebit /...

~ Velebit / North Velebit /...

~ Velebit / North Velebit / Zavizan ~

In winter do not attempt to reach Zavizan if weather forecast in not good, especially if you are not familiar with the area very well! Just past weekend two tour skiers have been blown away by hurricane force Bura in this whiteout and separated. Neither couldn’t reach the hut nor find each other in hurricane blizzard and where forced to spend the night without shelter in these conditions. Large rescue mission was undertaken on the next day when one of them reached the hut and informed that the other one is still missing! Luckily later in the afternoon the other skier was found by the first one while first rescuers where reaching Zavizan! The other one suffered hand frostbite and hurt eyes from the speeding ice particles, and less importantly the loss of all the gear.

Here Ante Vukusic, legendary weather man on Zavizan, is reading the weather data for his hourly dispatch, on the night when two skiers were trapped somewhere out there in icy hell of Velebit. He is working in most difficult conditions in Croatia for 30 years and hasn't spent a night away from Zavizan in this millennium!

December 10th 2005.

Photo: Aleksandar Gospic
Velebit
on Dec 14, 2005 11:59 am
Lat/Lon: 44.80860°N / 14.97180°E
Image ID: 141113

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Vid Pogachnik

Vid Pogachnik - Dec 14, 2005 12:03 pm - Voted 10/10

Fine comment!

Sasa, you should post a whole trip report about this adventure. But it fits this picture too.

Velebit

Velebit - Dec 14, 2005 1:18 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Fine comment!

Thanks Vid! That's a good idea, I could do that. I never remember of TR possibility.

Vid Pogachnik

Vid Pogachnik - Dec 14, 2005 2:24 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: Fine comment!

Your English is so perfect, Sasa, and you style of talking so interesting. You write it first in Croatian, for your own use. Then translation is a fun. It's a good story - flying 50 meters, blown by a hurricane wind, rescuing and everything around the adventure...

Velebit

Velebit - Dec 15, 2005 11:21 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Bad News

Today I found out that the other skier (woman, I won't tell name for privacy reasons) is still in hospital (intensive care unit) and that the left hand (fist) is questionable and still not moving. I feel so sorry for her and pray that everything will be good in the end! Amputation would be disaster!

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