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).

A couple of nordic skiers have been killed by an avalanche on the road from Saint-Christophe-en-Oisans to la Berarde. The couple had left on Monday afternoon from their second home.

Two skiers have been caught by an avalanche in the Hohneck couloirs in the Vosges at around 13h today.

With the first sunny day after a period of unsettled weather that had brought close to a meter of snow in some areas of the French Northern Alps the authorities feared the worst.

The body of an Italian ski instructor, resident of Brides les Bains and missing since Wednesday has been found at 2200 meters altitude in the Vizelle sector of Courchevel under a meter of snow.

Although the storm has brought less snow than forecast (10-30cm depending on mountain range) the storm force southerly winds have created new snow slabs on north facing slopes.

A ski tourer has been killed by an avalanche in the Hautes-Alpes near to the col du Lauteret.

There have been a considerable number of avalanches over the weekend but also a lot of activity in the mountains following the French lock-down.

Anyone who watches the webcams this autumn will have seen that there has been a slab avalanche above the pistes at Tignes on the Grand Motte glacier.

An 19 year old hiker had a lucky escape in the Alpstein mountains near Seealp in Switzerland on Sunday afternoon.