A massive late-season storm brought huge snow totals to parts of Europe, shutting down access to mountain towns in France and Switzerland earlier this month. In the Zermatt, Saas, and Simplon regions of Switzerland, power outages and major disruptions caused huge traffic delays, while residents and tourists in the French resort of Tignes were told to stay indoors due to the heavy snow.
In Val Thorens, France, a 27-year-old British man died after being swept away in an avalanche while standing by the side of the road. Nearly a meter of snow, or around 3.3 feet, fell in the area over one night, leading the ski areas to shut down.
The avalanche danger apparently got so bad that local police were forced to patrol the streets wearing avalanche airbags, telling residents and tourists to get inside while avalanche control work was being done.
Eventually the control work finished up and people were once again let outside, but seeing the police wearing avalanche bags would no doubt be a scary sight to anyone in the area.