Two skiers were buried under 250cm of snow at Val-d'Isère in the Vallée perdue, a popular off piste on the back of the Bellevarde. The piste follows a narrow canyon. According to a source in the ski resort the avalanche broke on a roll over and the configuration did not enable the victims to escape from the snow. The alert was given around 14h30 by friends who stayed on piste and were concerned when the skiers didn't reappear at the bottom. Neither of the skiers had avalanche transceivers. They were localized by rescue workers using the GPS signal from their mobile phones. This was followed by a probe search over an area of 10x15 meters. The skiers were buried for over an hour and a doctor was not able to resuscitate them.
In Arêches-Beaufort a 48 year old male off piste skier was killed by an avalanche near the col de la Bâthie. A friend who accompanied him suffered from severe head injuries. The victim, a french national, was on holiday in the resort. The alert was given around 14h00 by a piste patroller who spotted the slide. He then heard calls for help from one of the victims who was buried up to his neck. In March 2018 two skiers were killed by an avalanche in the same sector.
The avalanche risk was 4 (High) across much of the Northern Alps. Specialists had warned of the risk large, skier triggered avalanches over the weekend. There has been up to a meter of fresh snow in the region accompanied by storm force winds. The avalanche bulletin for Val-d'Isère had also warned of a persistent weak layer in the snow-pack saying that slabs were extremely sensitive to skier triggering on any slope over 30° with the risk of remote triggering of large avalanches on shallow slopes. Snow transport was evident on ridges and summits under the influence of the North West wind. Slabs could be up to 150cm deep.
In the Pyrenees three Spanish off piste skiers had a lucky escape in Formiguères. They climbed on foot to access a north facing couloir that descended towards the valley of the Galba where they were caught by an avalanche. Two skiers lost their material in the slide which finished in trees. They gave the alert at 11h20 but the rescue helicopter was not able to fly due to the conditions. They were finally rescued by pisteurs around 15h00 who were able to access the zone with a piste basher. One of the skiers had suffered facial injuries.