A British man died in an avalanche in the French Alps on Tuesday, as the third Briton to be killed in the region in the past week.
A group of five people were skiing off-piste near the resort town of La Grave when the avalanche struck.
Two of the skiers - a Polish-born British man who was living in Switzerland and a Polish man, both aged in their 30s - were killed.
Their guide was injured and taken to hospital, with two other skiers in the group, a German and an Australian, escaping unharmed.
The latest deaths bring the number of people killed in avalanches in France since the start of the season to 28, with the majority occurring since January, including six in one weekend.
Two British nationals were also killed in the French ski resort of Val d’Isère on Friday last week, a day after several resorts closed due to the high risk warning alert of snow slides.
Stuart Leslie, 46, and Shaun Overy, 51, were part of a group of four people skiing off-piste under an instructor’s supervision in the Manchet valley when the avalanche hit.
Stuart Leslie (left) and Shaun Overy (right) were on the slopes at Val d’Isère when the avalanche hit | FacebookThey were swept down the valley into a stream, where rescuers later recovered their bodies.
A French national skiing solo above the group was also killed, while a third Briton escaped with minor injuries after reportedly digging himself out of the snow.
“All were equipped” with safety gear, according to the resort, but they were not fortunate enough to see the looming disaster.
The avalanche risk in the La Grave area, on La Meije mountain, was 4/5 on Tuesday - a very rare case - because of a combination of fresh snow and wind, according to the French weather service.
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Avalanche in Val d’Isère, which killed two Britons on Friday
|Another avalanche later swept away several hikers in Valloire, in the neighbouring department of Savoie, Mayor Jean-Pierre Rougeaux said.
The avalanche killed one person and left two others in a critical condition - all of which French nationals.
Prosecutors have opened investigations to determine the causes of death and injury in recent avalanches, unsure of how they were triggered - naturally or by skiers themselves.
Several ski resorts in the region were forced to shut in light of the dangerous conditions this past week, among them Plagne, Les Arcs, and Peisey-Vallandry.
The red alert of a 5/5 risk was lifted by Friday, but the risk level remained at four out of five, officially “high”, with avalanches “easily triggered by skiers or hikers” and capable of mobilising “very large volumes of snow”.
Offering its “sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims at Val-d’Isère, the tourist office “recommends that skiers stay in the safe and marked areas of the ski area".
In a message published on X, authorities also strongly advised against “off-piste activities, ski touring and snowshoeing” and invited mountain enthusiasts to “strictly comply with the instructions given by professionals and the safety services of the slopes”.
Rescuers at Valloire after a person died in an avalanche
|Some avalanches could even thunder down into valleys, threatening roads and settlements, with forecasters warning slopes are now so unstable that even a single skier could trigger a slide.
Families heading to one of France’s biggest ski resorts, La Plagne, have had their half-term holidays cancelled amid the high risk.
Large parts of Savoie, home to some of Europe’s biggest resort are now under Level five alerts, meaning extraordinarily dangerous avalanche conditions.
Neighbouring Les Arcs has also shut its ski area, while Val Thorens closed most slopes after being battered by the storm.