Avalanche at Val d’Isère

A family group with a ski instructor have been caught by an avalanche off piste in Val d’Isère. One of the group, a 21 year old man, was taken by helicopter to Grenoble in a critical conditions.

The group were skiing at around 10h30 at 2850 meters altitude on a north facing slope in the Solaise sector. The victim was buried for over half an hour under three meters of snow. All members of the group were equipped with avalanche beacons. The avalanche risk was Moderate (2/3) moving to Considerable (3/5) during the early part of the day.

Members of the website Camp2Camp have reported a large avalanche on Mt Charvin at 11h20 this morning. The accident occured in one of the aiguilles du Mont and took the whole face. Three skiers escaped the slide above but a ski has been spotted on the surface of the debris.

A roof avalanche has badly damaged a chalet in Isola 2000 in the Alpes Maritimes. Six Dutch tourists had to be rehoused during the middle of the night. The route to Isola was closed on Thursday after fresh slides.

Posted by davidof on Saturday, 04 April, 2009 at 09:09 PM

Some info on the Val d’Isere slide from Henry
http://www.getoffpiste.com/2009/04/my-entry.html

The report from Camp2Camp
http://www.camptocamp.org/outings/162999/fr/mont-charvin-face-w-voie-normale

The rescue services have found the body of a ski tourer in the slide at Mont Charvin in the Aravis today. The avalanche occured at 2100 meter altitude and was 400 meters wide. The debris was 15 meters deep in places. The search operation lasted all day on Saturday and found material on the surface of the slide.

Posted by davidof on Sunday, 05 April, 2009 at 10:43 PM

Funny how things get distorted. I helped dig these guys up, arriving on the scene within 10 minutes of the slide.

I would describe them as 4 men, mid to late thirties and definitely not with a ski instructor! No qualified instructor would have skied that route!

Posted by Ant on Monday, 06 April, 2009 at 07:22 PM

Thanks for the info Ant.

Posted by davidof on Monday, 06 April, 2009 at 11:12 PM

Info on the Mont Charvin avalanche from Alain Duclos

http://www.data-avalanche.org/alea_avalanches/view_item/Avalanche/50000329

and on the Val d’Isere slide

http://www.data-avalanche.org/alea_avalanches/view_item/Avalanche/50000327

Posted by davidof on Monday, 13 April, 2009 at 10:49 AM