Debacle at the Swiss-O-Week 2009

The perfect organization and the charming sun of the Swiss-O-Week 2006, held in Zermatt with a stage culminating at 3000m upon sea level, made us almost forget that extreme rainfalls, landslides and cancelled races could have been the daily menu too. This is exactly what the 2009 edition of the Swiss-O-Week is experiencing this week and remembers us about…

A sharply cut and wet valley

A look at a 1:50 000 scale map of Switzerland may be already sufficiant to understand the occurability of natural catastrophes in Muotatal. This cul-de-sac valley of the centre of Switzerland, surrounded by mountains, is first of all very deeply cut in the landscape. On a climatological point of view, the dam effect of the mountains leads to a general higher amount of precipitations: 205cm per year in Muotathal itself (320cm on the highest mountain, Bös Fulen), while Bern gets 110 cm per year. Mainly calcearous, the area and its stony underground is also spoiled by extreme temperatures in winter (the record being -52°C in 1991), leading to spectacular mountains and gorges – but making them vulnerable too. In June for example, the village of Riemenstalden had already been cut of the world by impressive debris flows, which tells a lot about the unstability of the slides.

Extreme rainfalls

After a wet sprint on Sunday in Schwyz, capital of the same named canton, the organizers had warned about rainfalls and sudden cold temperatures. On Monday night indeed, many competitors of the official Swiss-O-Week camping had to leave their tents to take refuge for the night in the gym hall of the village. The rainfalls were extreme, and the rivers didn’t wait long time before becoming dangerously high.The appearance of a new risk related to these high water rivers pushed the organizers to cancel the 3rd stage for the 3rd start competitors – the very young and oldest ones.

Forgotten in the rain

The 2nd stage won’t stay in the best orienteering memories for everyone. After a 50′ long ride in military minibusses and having competed in the rain in cold conditions, the runners were supposed to return to the Event centre by military buses again. Approximatively 200 runners were left though in the rain for 2 hours, as the militaries had simply forgotten about them and already gone home…
The 3rd stage distinguished itself by a longer way to the start than any of the O-Ringen stages : 5 kilometers and 770m of high difference waited on the runners, for an estimated time of 110′ minutes – much longer than the race itself for many competitors.
Very sadly, a 59 years old competitor found the death during this 3rd stage, due to a heart attack.

Another massive debris flow

Debris flows are defined by a mix of water, mud and rocks, which behave as a compact and uniform mass similar to lava. Having a density often closed to the double of the water’s one, it carries rocks of all sizes which destroy instaneously a house if passing on it. The village of Riemenstalden, situated 27km away of Muotathal, had already suffered from a landslide in November 2008, as well as debris flow in June of this year.  The extreme rainfalls of Monday evening launched a new episode of debris flow on Tuesday: 20’000 to 30’000 cube meters of rocks were moved, from which 5000 cube meters landed on the main road – which had been closed for security reasons the day before. A garage was destroyed, but the inhabitants of the village could be evacuated on time.
Which link to the Swiss-O-Week? Well, this road was exactly the one which should have been used to travel to the 4th stage, held tomorrow. If the railways could already be re-opened very soon after the debris flow, it however wasn’t the case of the road, which will stay closed until Friday 11am. The organizers finally found a quick solution in replacing the terrain of this 4th stage by the one of the 6th stage.

Euromeeting “saved”

Before this evening, it remained still uncertain whether the 6th stage could take place or not. The re-opening of the road on Friday should however make it possible, the organizers estimated. The weather is forecasted to be good at least until Friday, and the cantonal geologist told there shouldn’t be any other risk of debris flow in the same area. This 6th stage will also count as the second individual race of the Euromeeting, a Championships meant for the B-teams of the national elite teams and relevant for the upcoming World Championships (France in 2011, and Switzerland in 2012). The relay will take place one day after the closing of the Swiss-O-Week 2009.

Sources: Schweizer Fernsehen / Press release Canton Schwyz / Tourism Office of Muotatal / Bardou E., Géomorphologie torrentielle : notions de base, IGAR, University of Lausanne, 2005 /

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