Boarder found dead at Pra Loup

There have been a number of accidents over the last couple of days. A ski tourer was caught by an avalanche on the north face of the Grand Colon close to Grenoble on Sunday. He was carried 100 meters over small cliffs but was not buried. He suffered from a broken ankle and other injuries and was taken to hospital by helicopter. Witnesses described the conditions as delicate because of around 40cm of fresh snow and very strong winds.

A British snowboarder aged 40 was killed while off piste in Val d’Isère yesterday afternoon. The victim, an anesthetist attending a conference at Val-d’Isère was off piste near the Loyes Express lift to the left of the Face de Bellevarde. He was killed instantly by a fall of some 30 meters.  The sector, between the Bellevard and Banane is not normally used by off piste skiers. According to local guide Wayne Watson a number of other skiers had to be rescued after following the victim’s tracks into the cliff complex.

At Pra Loup the body of a 25 year old snowboarder was found mid-morning on Tuesday in the Langail river on the east side of the domain. The man was named as Mathias Bonnauron from Avignon. He was last seen at on Monday after lunch on the Costebelle gondola lift. The rescue services were alerted when he didn’t return in the evening. Around 50 people were involved in the search operation but it was finally a piste basher driver that spotted snowboard tracks at 19h00 above the Langail. The area is very steep and dangerous and the search was only able to start at first light. The civilian rescue helicopter (Dragon 06) was scrambled from Cannes to aid in the search. The body of the man was spotted mid morning. At first it was believed that the man was hit by an avalanche, a number of sluffs were spotted on the slopes above the river. However a later police investigation has discounted this theory. A post mortem showed no signs of trauma and it is believed the man died of exposure. His mobile phone showed that he had tried in vain to contact the rescue services but there was no signal in the gorge. What the police have been unable to understand is why he did not attempt to rejoin the nearby resort by the bottom of the valley. The victim was said to be an experienced snowboarder. He was wearing a helmet as well as a Recco reflector.

The mountain rescue was also scrambled for an avalanche yesterday afternoon at Sainte-Anne la Condamine. The avalanche was being used by 20 members of the military on a search and rescue exercise who had forgotten to inform the resort of their operation.

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