With the "little winter" the end of the season has been particularly deadly this year especially along the French/Italian border. There have been 6 incidents since the 28th April 2017 involving 3 injuries and 5 fatalities. On Saturday, Grégory Mistral, an ex-pisteur from Tignes and member of the Tignes Fire and Rescue services was killed in the Vallon du Clou near Ste Foy Tarentaise.
Mr Mistral had just opened a new climbing route on the Pointe des Mines with a friend. At around 18h00 he and his climbing partner were returning on skis when he was taken 400 meters by an avalanche over cliffs. Unable to get a phone or radio signal his climbing partner had to ski to the the trail head at Monal in order to alert the rescue services.