Swiss Avalanche Fatalities By Year And Activity Since 1937

ENVIDAT provides statistics on avalanche fatalities per calendar year in Switzerland from 1937 onward. The dataset categorizes deaths by activity: backcountry touring, off-piste skiing near ski areas, incidents on transportation corridors, and events in or near buildings. Data collection for this version concluded after the 2022 update.

Use Cases

• Model long-term trends in total fatalities (sum column) against climate or population data.
• Compare risk between activity categories (tour, offpiste, transportation.corridors, buildings) to prioritize safety campaigns.
• Analyze seasonal or annual fatality counts (year column) for specific user groups like backcountry skiers.
• Assess the impact of safety regulations by examining fatality time series for transportation corridors.

Strengths

• Covers 86 years of historical data from 1937 to 2022.
• Provides disaggregated counts across four distinct fatality categories.

Limitations

• Data is not updated beyond 2022, missing recent seasons.
• Unknown sample size or row count for statistical confidence.
• Limited to calendar year aggregation, while standard Swiss reporting uses the hydrological year ending September 30.

Provenance

Source

ENVIDAT, the environmental data portal for Switzerland.

Collection Method

Compiled according to guidelines for the Swiss avalanche accident database.

Time Range

1937 to 2022.

Freshness

Last updated in 2018, with data final through 2022.

Geography

Switzerland.