The body of a 54 year old skier was only recovered on Sunday following an avalanche above the Julier Pass on Friday due to a combination of unfortunate circumstances.

Three ski tourers, a man and two women, left the Julier Pass climbing towards the Jenatschhütte to prepare the refuge before the arrival of some friends. Their route took them across a steep slope rendered dangerous because of the current risk of avalanches.

The victim asked his friends to wait until he crossed the slope. As he was traversing he was hit be an avalanche from above. The two women immediately searched for their friend but he was already dead when recovered. They were unable to reach the rescue services due to the lack of mobile phone coverage in the sector. One of the women then climbed to the hut to used a fixed line, but this was also down, probably due to the recent heavy snowfall.

The wife of the victim alerted the rescue services on Saturday night when she was unable to reach him by phone. The rescue helicopter was only able to overfly the zone on Sunday to repatriate the body and the two friends.

http://www.24heures.ch/actu/suisse/skieur-grison-tue-coulee-neige-2011-12-25?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Very sad news.  When I first did that trip with Peter Cliffe, he stopped the group on the slope opposite the Jenatsch Hutte and we traversed one by one over what appeared to be a beautiful slope to power down.  After the short climb up the other side to the Hutte I asked him why as it looked good to me?  He told me he’d been on it a few years earlier in similar conditions and it had gone, taking him down with it.  From the sounds of the report it is probably the same slope and the Guardian (?) knew it too.  Very unlucky if it was the case.