Four snowboarders were hit by a slide yesterday in exactly the same spot as last week’s fatal avalanche in the Pyrenean resort of Baréges. The slide occurred in the couloir du Ganchoue just above the previous avalanche. A bye-law taken by the mayor of Baréges bans off-piste skiing when the avalanche risk is high. According to the piste services the snowboarders ignored warning signs to reach the couloir.
Three of the boarders were partly buried but were able to free themselves. A fourth, a resident of Bordeaux aged 25, was rescued by members the CRS from Gavarnie. He was suffering from a shoulder injury and taken to hospital in Tarbes by helicopter. The accident happened at around 2000 meters altitude.
Last week’s avalanche caught a father and son, also on a snowboard. The slopes of the couloir du Ganchoue in the Super Baréges sector of the ski station of Le Tourmalet are above a river and this terrain trap that possibly contributed to the gravity of lthe accident.