Three snow fall periods in january and february 1999 lead to a fresh snow hight of about 4 meters in the Galtür muncipality. Due to strong winds from north, additional drifting snow accumulated in the slopes beneath Grieskogel peak and resulted in even bigger snow hights locally. On February 23, 1999 the „Äußere Wasserleiter-„ and the „Weiße Riefe-„ avalanches were triggered spontaneously. As a result of the enormous snow amounts, the avalanches reached the settlement and destroyed numerous houses. 20 people could be rescued with minor injuries, two with servere injuries, but 31 people lost their lives in this catastrophy. Besides the fatalities, property damage was estimated at 10 to 11 million euros.