Georg von Freymann loves his job. He is chief technology officer at the German start-up company Nanoscribe and, like his colleagues, frequently works long hours. “As a physicist, to see your ideas ...

The snow burst through the trees with no warning but a last-second whoosh of sound, a two-story wall of white and Chris Rudolph’s piercing cry: “Avalanche! Elyse!” The very thing the 16 skiers and ...