It appears to be the season of unusual avalanches. A sixty year old man was caught by an avalanche on the Crêt de l’Aiguillon near the Menthières ski area in French Jura today (20/01/2021). He was ski touring with his wife at the col du Sac (1350 meters) following the summer hiking trail. The avalanche broke as they existed the woods. The rescue services were contacted just before 14h00. Piste patrollers from the ski resort were first on the scene, followed by 50 members of the fire service. The man was found under 150cm of snow. He had been buried for around 90 minutes. Found in a state of cardio-vascular arrest resuscitation was given at the scene but the man died later in hospital. The couple had avalanche beacons but had forgotten them for this trip, an error that may have proved fatal.
In the Chartreuse a couple were hit by a slide on the north side of the Col de Lechaud, one of them suffered a knee injury requiring the intervention of the rescue service. This col is notorious for windslab avalanche incidents when there are strong north or south winds. Rescue workers noticed a car in the car park at la Ruchere at dusk and contacted relatives of the owner who reported that he had not contacted them since setting out for a ski tour that morning and that he was overdue. The weather conditions rendered a search of the area impossible. On Thursday morning there was an extensive probe search of the avalanche that had caught the couple. In the afternoon a dog team discovered the body of the missing ski tourer under the debris. Also in the Chartreuse a couple of ski tourers were surprised by a slab on the north side of the Col des Ayes. Carried downslope they were fortunate to not be carried into the trees below. Three ski tourers were killed in the same spot in December 2010 in similar weather conditions (strong southerly winds and a thaw). In the Oisans three ski tourers triggered a large avalanche at 2500 meters on the Crête de la Chailliol at around 13h00. The avalanche risk was 3/5 in the Chartreuse and the bulletin warned the main problem was windslab on weak layers.
In the Haute-Savoie a ski tourer was buried for around 20 minutes near the Pointe d’Areu. The incident occurred at 12h30. He was rescued by eye witnesses thanks to his avalanche beacon and transported to hospital by the mountain rescue helicopter in a very serious condition. Half an hour later there was another incident in the combe de Paccaly, near la Clusaz. Rescued by eye witnesses after around a quarter of an hour under the debris he was transported to hospital with light injuries by the PGHM helicopter. At the end of the afternoon a ski tourer had to be recovered after an avalanche below the summit of Le Bouton in the Clefs sector, in the commune of Thônes. The victim had managed to dig himself out of the slide but was suffering from hypothermia. He was taken to hospital. A busy afternoon for the rescue services.
The rescue services were also active in the Hautes-Alpes above the Col du Lauteret where a large avalanche was spotted about the Galibier road. A dog team spent a couple of hours on the debris to confirm there were no victims.
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