Piste Patrollers hit by avalanche at Tignes

Two off-duty members of the Tignes piste patrol have been injured, one seriously, by an avalanche shortly after midday today. One of the men, a Tignard, was trapped under the snow for half an hour. He was taken to hospital in a severe state of hypothermia; his body temperature was 28°C. Reports are that the large slide occured under the Petit Col in the Chardonnet Bowl close to the Aiguille Percee.

The other piste patroller, who is on an exchange from an American resort, was recovered after a few minutes under the slide with a dislocated shoulder. He gave a statement to the police saying that they stopped at around 2,500 meters in an off-piste sector when a slide hit them from above. The police wan to establish if the slide was triggered by other skiers. Both men were equipped with avalanche beacons. Normally all the piste patrollers at Tignes are equipped with ABS Avalanche Airbags but it is not known if they were wearing them in this case. The avalanche risk was considerable (3/5) at the time. Meteo France had warned of slabs on open faces with slabs and accumulations of more then 1 meter depth with layers of graupel destabilizing the snowpack.

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