A 69 year old ski tourer has been killed by an avalanche at the start of this afternoon in the Queyras Valley. The slide occured at the Col du Tronchet (2661m - 44.6122/6.84637). There have been 26 avalanche deaths so far this season, 9 in the Hautes-Alpes department.
The victim came from the Paris area. He was part of a group of a dozen skiers. The avalanche risk was 3 (Considerable). Over half a meter of snow fell on Sunday and Monday and Meteo France warned skiers to be very careful above 2200 meters altitude due to the presence of fragile snow slabs and also warned of wet snow slides at the end of the morning, especially at low altitude and on sunny slope aspects.
Yesterday a guide and his client were hit by an avalanche near to the ski resort of Méribel at 1800m altitude. Alerted by other clients the PGHM from Courchevel heliported the guide to hospital in Moûtiers. The victim had suffered back injuries. The accident occurred between the col de la Lune (1785m, 45.431299/6.525021 ) and the refuge de la Traie.