With all the recent snow in the alps, avalanche conditions are precarious to say the least.
On Tuesday, three avalanches struck the French Alps. Two occured near the Val d’Isere ski resort, while another struck in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards area. The series of avalanches subsequently killed two skiers and seriously injured two others. The first incident happened around 10:30 am and involved three people who were traversing from the terminus of Bellevard to the Cairns at approximately 2700 meters. The avalanche, whose crown was roughly 80cm deep and 80 meters wide caught two of the three skiers both of whom were buried. After a short burial, the first skier was found unconscious. The second skier was found about 150cm deep and showed signs of cardio vascular arrest reports pistehors.com.
The first group was equipped with avalanche beacons.
An hour later, another group of 4 remotely triggered an avalanche on what is referred to as the Santons piste. At the time of the avalanche, the piste was closed. The depth of the crown was 100cm and it was 30 meters wide. One skier was buried under 150cm of snow.
The second group was not equipped with avalanche beacons.
15 minutes after the slide occurred, rescue personnel arrived on the scene and after finding the buried body, they performed CPR. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
In an unrelated incident, a 30-year-old Czech man was killed by a large avalanche in the Saint-Colomban-des-Villards area west of Val d’Isere. He was equipped with the necessary avalanche safety equipment as well as an airbag. He was with a partner at the time of the incident, who survived the avalanche.
The avalanche risk at the time of these incidents was rated as 3-4.
Our deepest condolences go out to the victims’ friends and family.
Read the entire pistehors.com article here: Two dead and two seriously injuried in Savoie avalanches