Three climbers have been killed following an avalanche above Bessans in the Haute Maurienne yesterday. The victims were a father and his two grown up sons, one of them a guide with a keen interest in avalanches. After a search operation complicated by poor weather two bodies were found at first light after a glove was found on the surface of the slide and a further body was recovered around midday.

The group intended to climb the 3000m Roche Michel. The alarm was given when they failed to return home on Monday night. The slide occured on a north facing slope in the Roche Michel couloir above the vallée du Ribon (2000m). The slide ran over 800 meters. The men were local to Bessans.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=bessans&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.03917,107.138672&ie=UTF8&hq=bessans&hnear=&radius=15000&t=p&ll=45.28938,7.000008&spn=0.073186,0.209255&z=13

Fresh snow and strong winds have formed slabs at altitude in the Alps over recent days.

First fatal incident of this season, a reminder that avalanches don’t respect seasons but snow conditions, even if the Jan-Mar period is statistically the most dangerous.

As you can see from the following graphic there has been a substantial rise in incidents over the three years.

Alain Duclos has posted some interesting data on this avalanche

http://www.data-avalanche.org/static/dataavalanche/joomla/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=134&aval_id=50000535