Staff at a French ski resort were left horrified after finding a dead body inside a gondola.
A 53-year-old man who had boarded a lift in Val Cenis is thought to have experienced a cardiac arrest during the journey to the mountaintop.
Gondola operators immediately alerted ski patrol as staff tried to revive the man using a defibrillator.
But despite a swift response from emergency services and local police, all resuscitation efforts proved unsuccessful and he was declared dead at the scene.
Hours later on the same day, another tragedy struck at Les Menuires, a separate resort in the Savoie region.
A skier from Spain was discovered lying unconscious against a rock formation in an off-piste area.
The incidents add to a troubling series of ski-related deaths and injuries across European and international winter sports destinations in recent weeks.
Staff at a French ski resort made a grim discovery when they found a tourist's lifeless body inside a gondola
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The French incidents followed a concerning episode in Italy two weeks earlier, when a cable car collided with a station barrier at the Macugnaga facility in Piedmont's Verbano-Cusio-Ossola area.
Six individuals were hurt in the crash, one of them a child, after the car reportedly approached the summit station - situated more than 9,000 feet above sea level - at excessive speed.
The accident left roughly 100 passengers stranded on the mountain, prompting authorities to close nearby slopes and suspend lift operations.
Rescue teams from the National Alpine Rescue Corps deployed two firefighting helicopters to evacuate those trapped, while the injured received immediate medical attention before being airlifted to hospital.
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The tragedy occurred in the Savoie region of the French Alps
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Tragedy also struck at a Japanese resort on December 28, when five-year-old Hinata Goto was killed after becoming caught in a ski escalator at Asarigawa Onsen Ski Resort in Otaru.
The young boy fell near the machine's exit and his right arm became ensnared in the belt mechanism, according to police.
His mother managed to activate the emergency stop after the escalator continued rotating for several seconds.
Firefighters spent 40 minutes dismantling the equipment to free the child, who gradually lost consciousness during the ordeal.
Older men are the most likely demographic to suffer from cardiac arrest in mountainous areas (file photo)
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The five-year-old was transported to hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Higher altitudes typically pose a greater risk of cardiac arrest to individuals with existing heart conditions as a result of lower oxygen levels and added strain on the body.
Older men are the most likely demographic to be impacted by this type of medical emergency.
According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac death is the most frequent non-traumatic cause of death in mountainous areas.
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