Authorities have issued warnings over the risk of avalanches after six people, including a British man, were killed in the French Alps over the weekend.
The man, in his 50s, had been skiing off-piste in La Plagne on Sunday. Other fatalities occurred in Courchevel, Val-d’Isèr and Arêches-Beaufort, while two skiers were hurt in separate avalanches in Tignes and Oreille.
A team of more than 50 people, including medics and ski school instructors, as well as a helicopter-deployed piste dog, were called in to rescue the British man, who was discovered after 50 minutes of searching under 2.5m of snow.
He was skiing with a group but did not have an avalanche transceiver and was not with a professional instructor, a spokesperson for the resort said.
Two French off-piste skiers died in an avalanche in Val d’Isere on Saturday, while, in another incident on the same day in the Areches-Beaufort resort, one off-piste skier died and another is in hospital with serious head injuries.
Elsewhere, a ski patroller died when hit by an avalanche in Vallorcine and another died in Courchevel.
Ski news service PlanetSKI reports national avalanche services in France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Spain urged extreme caution for anyone planning to ski, ride, or travel in mountain terrain on Sunday.
In Switzerland there is a Level 4 (high) risk across a large part of the Swiss Alps and there has also been heavy snow in parts of the Pyrenees with risk of avalanches.
The local interior ministry office for the French ski resort Savoie said six avalanches had been registered on Sunday before lunchtime.
“The snow cover is unstable and there is a major risk of avalanches… today and in the coming days. For your safety and that of rescue workers, be extremely careful,” it said.
PlanetSKI added La Plagne Mayor Jean-Luc Boch warned on Sunday: “We have really had very beautiful weather today and that is what is behind these dramas. People do not realise when they see these immaculate mountains and this magnificent snow covering that it can be dangerous. We are afraid for the days to come. We are really afraid that not all the skiers will be careful.”
