Two ski instructors were killed yesterday by an avalanche on an off-piste run in the Saint-François-Longchamps sector of Valmorel.
The avalanche occurred at 1,920 meters altitude. The two men, aged 24 and 31 left the station at midday for an off-piste itinerary. They were reported missing when they didn’t return at the end of the day, their bodies were found around 10pm by rescue workers buried under 5 meters of snow.
Although Valmorel has a reputation as an intermediate family station there is also a lot of off-piste. The sector already saw an avalanche death last year. On the 27th of January, Damien Ravoire a resident in the station and a member of the French ski team was killed off piste by an avalanche.
Posted by
davidof on Wednesday, 05 February, 2003 at 07:46 PM
Jean Noel Favre Bonté was one of the ski instructors killed in this slide. He was an excellent skier, both on piste and touring. In May 1991 Jean-Noel and Jean-Charles Deleglise set out for the aiguilles de l’Argentiére with the aim of skiing the brêche Sainte Phalle (a couloir between the aiguille sainte Phalle and the aiguille d’Olle. The south facing couloir was some 250m long with sections between 45/50° and an abseil of 15/20m on the right bank in the upper third after a narrow section.
After the premiere (? and never repeated?) Jean Noel skied down to keep his sheep at the chalets du Rieu Claret. Jean-Noel was 21, Jean Charles just 19.
Voila… if you are in the area look out for the brêche Sainte Phalle and spare a thought for Jean Noel.
Posted by memoire on Monday, 26 December, 2011 at 05:48 PM
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