A professional snowshoe leader, resident of Chamonix, was found after being buried for around 40 minutes under an avalanche. The man was leading a group of tourists on snowshoes when he instructed his party to stop while he tested a suspect slope.
His suspicions proved correct, the leader was swept away by an avalanche at 2,000 meters above the village of Le Tour to the north of Chamonix. Alerted by telephone the Mountain Police (PGHM) arrived rapidly on scene but could not pick-up a signal with their avalanche beacons. After some 40 minutes under the snow they found the man, who was not equipped with an avalanche transceiver, who was lucky to be alive and unhurt.
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