Jérôme Thinières a talented guide was killed on Thurday while climbing in the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Hautes Pyrénées. A large block of ice hit him and a friend, killing both instantly.  Serge Castéran, another guide, who was belaying the pair, was seriously injured.  Jérôme Thinières qualified as a guide in 1999 at the age of 27 and had opened a number of routes in the Pyrénées.

A Spanish climber was killed by an avalanche in the area earlier in the season.