Alpinists trapped under snow climb mountains despite avalanche warning

MOSCOW, January 9 (Itar-Tass) --The alpinists trapped under snow in
Kabardino-Balkaria went mountaineering despite avalanche warnings, The
head of the Emergencies Ministry's southern regional press centre, Oleg
Grekov, said.
"They were warned that mountaineering was very dangerous because of
the high risk of avalanches but they ignored the warning," he told
Itar-Tass.
"According to the alpinists, an avalanche came down Mt. Gidan-Tau at
about Friday noon and trapped all nine tourists. Four of them got out of
the trap on their own and found the body of their colleague," Grekov said,
adding that the four other alpinists were missing.
A team of rescuers and a helicopter are used in the search operation
that will resume on Saturday morning. "The four survivors have found
shelter in a hut at an altitude of 3.500 metres," the head of the group,
Kantemir Davydov, chief spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry's branch in
the republic, told Itar-Tass.
The group included alpinists from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Murmansk,
and Cheboksary, who had come to Kabardino-Balkaria to learn
mountaineering, the official added.
Grekov said it would take about ten hours to reach the scene of the
accident.
"The avalanche situation is quite serious," he said, adding that the
alpinists "were cautioned against setting out on quite a serious trip"
because of the avalanches.
"But we hope against hope," the official said.
-0-zak/