The search for the four snowboarders, missing since Monday on the Mont Rosset, has been suspended for the night.
The search was concentrated on two avalanche sites situated at 1,900 meters, under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions. Pascal Lozach, a Lieutenant in the Mountain Police (PGHM) explained that ‘there is around 1m20 of fresh snow, normally we can climb on skis at 600-800 meters an hour, today it was more like 200’.
Tracks have been found entering the avalanche at Chambrier. The other slide at Chezeries is 150 cm deep by 100 meters wide. Lieutenant-Colonel Cailloz, who is in charge of the operation explained that ‘a helicopter has overflown the area, but at a height of 40 meters it did not pick up any signals from the avalanche transceivers carried by the group. We can’t speculate at the moment but with every hour hope is fading.’
The risk of avalanche remains high in the Alps and Pyrenees with many station completely closed for avalanche clearance.