A Belgium ski tourer, part of a group of five, has been killed in an accident above the ski resort of les Contamines-Montjoie in the Haute-Savoie. Katrien Vrancken, aged 44 and a resident of Louvain, was in a couloir at around 2,800 meters when she slid and fell 500 meters. The accident occurred at 11h30. Members of the PGHM (High Mountain Police) came to the scene using the Securite Civile rescue helicopter but the woman had been killed by the fall.
The accident follows two deaths by ski mountaineers due to falls in the Belledonne range north of Grenoble on the 30th of April following freezing overnight temperatures. A police source attributed those accidents to small errors by the skiers involved which had serious fatal consequences in the conditions. Deaths and injuries due to falls are extremely common in the late spring.