A skier has been killed by an avalanche in the enclosed Nant Pcheu couloir in the Brevent sector of Chamonix. The man was equipped with an ABS (airbag) system which he was apparently able to activate as well as a helmet and avalanche transceiver. The skier is a non-French national. Initial reports were of a slab but given that eyewitnesses saw a powder cloud I wonder if this was the couloir purging after the recent fresh snow. The rescue operation took several hours to find the victim despite his ABS and transceiver.

In the Savoie a group of three off piste skiers triggered an avalanche in Courchevel at 2300 meters altitude. The incident occured in the Chanrossa sector around 11h00. One of the skiers was partially buried but the second, a 22 year old student from Lyon was covered by 150cm of snow. He was found by a piste patroller thanks to his ARVA but only after 20 minutes burial. The victim was taken by helicopter to Grenoble in a critical condition.

I was skiing in Brevent yesterday and the posted avalanche risk was 2/5 - things did seem quite stable. They were bombing some of the couloirs from the chopper in the afternoon and didn’t seem to have much success getting anything to slide.

http://www.chamonet.com/events/news/skier-dies-in-brevent-avalanche-chamonix.html

Risk was also 2/5 in Courchevel on Friday with snowpack seeming pretty stable.  Despite high winds in previous days we encountered no slab build up and did not see any other slides.  Would be good to get more info on the incident.  Highlights the importance of assessing the local conditions of every new face/line.

A skier seems to have died after releasing a large slide in the Nant Pcheu couloir at the Brévent in Chamonix.  Brief details on the Chamonix website:

http://www.chamonix.com/actualites,avalanche-mortelle-au-brevent,54-3773,fr.html