Mountain rescue services based at Jausiers came to the rescue of a couple of ski tourers at 10h30 this morning on the north face of the Chapeau-de-Gendarme (2682m) to the south of Super-Sauze ski resort. The route is not particularly difficult but has slopes over 30 degrees. Both skiers were caught in the slide but one managed to free himself and alert the PGHM as well as rescue his completely buried partner. The victims, men aged 44 and 60 years old are local to the valley. The weather was described as marginal, the avalanche was at the limit of the cloud base. One of the skiers was taken by helicopter to Briancon suffering from a knee injury "but it could have been much more serious, if both skiers had been buried we would have been searching for bodies" warned a spokesman for the mountain rescue, "conditions are very dangerous at the moment".
The avalanche forecasting service have been on the ground. They already warned of a persistent weak layer before the recent fresh snow. They found 35 to 40cm of fresh but windblown snow above 2100m. 10cm above the ground there is a crust with a 1cm layer of facets on top that forms a weak layer in the snow-pack. The avalanche risk was 3 (Considerable) above 2100m with the principal risks given as windblown snow and the persistent weak layer and warned of a "typical avalanche situation: fresh snow, persistent weak layer and numerous slabs in place and forming with strong winds (westerly on Monday and northerly on Tuesday) in recent light snow above 2000m"
https://pistehors.com/CxRzkpoBhUhZWzGsZ3pX/snow-conditions-in-the-hautes-alpes---mid-november-2025