Don't move a muscle! Snowboarder balances just inches from edge of cliff
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:33 PM on 18th December 2009
Clinging on for dear life on the edge of a towering cliff, this snowboarder is just inches away from certain death.
Austrian Kurt Welden, 31, realised he was heading for a cliff edge at the last minute and managed to stop in time.
Mr Welden had been enjoying the deep powdery snow at the Moelltal glacier in Carinthia, Austria when he travelled off the marked piste.
Just inches away from certain death, Kurt Welden had a lucky escape when he spotted he was heading straight for the edge of this cliff
The snowboarder lay flat on the snow and clung on, hoping that the snow would not give way
He managed to dig away the snow and hung on hoping that the board would not slip or the snow give way until he could be rescued.
It took rescue workers an hour to secure the area and eventually pull Welden free using a helicopter.
One said: 'The fear was that the snow that was at the edge of the cliff could have been dislodged, taking the man down with it.
'But in the end we managed to pull him to safety. He was shocked but otherwise unhurt.'
The Mölltal Glacier has more than 35miles of pistes and has a snowboard Fun Park.
It is a popular resort for international ski and snowboard teams preparing themselves for big ski events.
At its highest point it is more than 9, 800 feet above sea level.
Last year British doctor Robert Bruce died after skiing off a cliff while snowboarding in Val D'Isere in the French Alps
He struck a rock at an off-limits area known as Face de la Bellegarde and then plunged more than 260ft to his death.
The Moeltal glacier in Austria is popular with international ski teams
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Comments (31)
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Haha all that snow provbes NO global warming you are all so dum!
- Joe from America, America, USA, 21/12/2009 05:18
Not much global warming there!
- Michael J. Lee, Sheffield UK, 19/12/2009 17:21
Strange how everyone that gets in to trouble in this way is somewhere they are no supposed to be - then other people have to risk their lives to rescue them....
- Bren, Canada (ex Devon UK, 19/12/2009 17:19
idiot.
You NEVER ski off piste unless you know what is ahead of you.
Good work of the rescue teams
- AW, Surrey, 19/12/2009 17:09
Love it last time i looked it was 47 each
- pete, you aving a laugh.uk, 19/12/2009 16:08
JUMP you wuss JUMP.
- Boarder, Blackburn. Lancs., 19/12/2009 15:47
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Don't move a muscle! Snowboarder balances inches from edge of cliff
Sunday, December 27, 2009
at
12:44 PM
via dailymail.co.uk
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