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Avalanches: Fatalities in the Queyras and Val d’Isere, Missing in Meribel
Posted: 18 March 2011 06:03 PM  
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The border areas between France and Italy have been at the epicenter of a number of avalanche incidents today, one of them fatal. The CRS des Alpes based in Briançon were called to 5 incidents this morning. In La Grave a group of four skiers triggered an avalanche in the north facing couloir du Patou, burying two, one of them completely. Assisted by the CRS all members of the group were able to ski back to the village. There were four avalanches in the Queyras. One under the Col des Ayes resulted in light injuries.  A guided group were also hit by a slide under the tête de Girardin.

In the most serious incident a resident of Gap in the Hautes-Alpes was killed by a slide near the “Cabane de Clausis” above Ceillac in the Cristillan valley. The incident occurred around 15h00 at 2300m. The 58 year old man, who was equipped with an avalanche beacon, was found by his wife under 200cm of snow. The pair were ski touring at the time. The victim was an experienced ski mountaineer. The CRS were also called to an incident involving 5 skiers in Montgenèvre in the north facing off piste sector of la Plane. The victims had freed themselves by the time the rescue services arrived on the scene and did not require assistance.

The avalanche risk in the East Queyras is 4/5 (High) today, Considerable elsewhere in the region. The last two days have brought another 30cm of fresh snow to the area with up to a meter locally on the border with Italy. This fresh snow was blown by winds from the east to south-east then from the north during the course of Thursday.

A lone skier has been reported missing in Méribel. Witnesses in the Mont du Vallon sector (2950m) described seeing a skier hit by a large slide on the west face of the mountain. Despite a large search no trace of the skier was found. Rescue workers think he may be buried under 5 meters of snow in the lacs du Borgne sector (2550 m).

At Val d’Isere, the rescue services, including the piste patrol had to deal with four avalanche incidents around midday today. First was a slide near the Borsat in the Bellevarde but after a check no-one was taken. Next a large slide on the Envers de Cugnaï which was around 70cm deep. A Swedish national was recovered using the signal from his ARVA in a serious condition, he died later in hospital in Grenoble. He had been buried for 45 minutes under 300cm of snow. He was part of a group of six skiers. There was a further avalanche in the Ouille de Cugnaï. S&R was hampered by poor visibility but it seems no-one was taken. Finally a lone skier escaped with a knee injury in the Prariond after using his airbag.

The avalanche risk at Val d’Isere was 3/5 (considerable) with strong winds from the North to North-West. The greatest risk was on north sector slopes with 5-30cm of new snow on Thursday.

[ Edited: 19 March 2011 12:30 AM by davidof]
 
 
Posted: 18 March 2011 10:18 PM   [ # 1 ]  
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how is that comparing historically?

my immediate impression was it was a poor year but just scanning the SLF numbers it’s lower than last year (which may not be surprising given there was a large incident last year) but also lower than previous years and it looks to be heading to somewhere slightly below average. Poor (unsafe) conditions mitigated by poor (skiing) conditions?

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SwissMountainLeader.com & B&B L’Epicéa, Leysin, Switzerland

 
 
Posted: 20 March 2011 07:05 PM   [ # 2 ]  
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Hi Ian,

I calculate 25 dead since the start of the season with 9 dead over the last 3 days, the worst period since 20th February 2006. Not good.

 
 
Posted: 22 March 2011 10:02 AM   [ # 3 ]  
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Avalanche on Mont du Vallon, Meribel 18.03.11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l3E9IbA_jo

 
 
Posted: 22 March 2011 03:25 PM   [ # 4 ]  
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The friends of the skier who is still missing after Avalanche on Mont du Vallon, Meribel 18.03.11 are looking for the eyewitnesses of the accident.  Any photos or videos that can help to locate the exact place where the tragedy happened and continue search will be highly appreciated. Please send info to .

 
 
Posted: 12 July 2011 02:19 PM   [ # 5 ]  
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The body of the Russian skier missing since March has been found on the Sunday 3rd July by the local police in the lac du Borgne in Méribel, The Police has been making regular patrols of the zone in an effort to find the missing skier. The identity of 48 year old Vladimir Ivanov was confirmed by papers found on his body.