A 44-year-old skier died on Saturday in the Savoyard resort of La Norma.
She was going off-piste with two other skiers when they were swept away by an avalanche.
The avalanche risk was three on a scale of five.
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A new drama in Savoie. The lifeless body of a skier was airlifted out on Saturday after a 50-minute search in an off-piste valley in the La Norma resort. The 44-year-old woman, swept away in a few minutes by an avalanche, was buried under 1.20 meters of snow. Setting out to look for her, seven high mountain rescuers, a helicopter and three dogs did everything to find her in time, in vain.
At the aid station, the victim’s companion and a friend, both survivors, fell into each other’s arms. And the entire valley shares this mourning. “It’s always regrettable, there are no words strong enough for the family” deplores a skier from the Haute-Morienne resort, in the TF1 report above.
“In off-piste skiing, zero risk does not exist”
Lots of snow, wind, critical weather since the start of the week: the elements made excursions outside the marked trails dangerous. The avalanche risk level, estimated at three on a scale of five, is also displayed throughout the resort. Gilles Margueron, the mayor of the town of Villarodin-Bourget on which La Norma depends, does not hide his sadness. “This kind of situation is always tragic. We know very well that in off-piste skiing, zero risk does not exist. We are at risk 3, so it is true that in all resorts, it “It’s a bit of what we fear. Unfortunately, these things happen too.”
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The emergency services remind you that you must be well equipped to go off-piste. Unfortunately, the victim was not wearing a device to locate her. With the two other skiers, they created an overload on the snowpack, which came loose. “Only one person slipped and was carried by an avalanche for 200 meters, says Captain Stéphane Narbaud. By ricochet effect, a second flow arrived on the same person, which dragged them back 200 meters and buried them completely.” Since the start of the week, this is the second victim to die in an avalanche in Savoie. On Wednesday, a 13-year-old teenager also lost his life following an off-piste trip. An investigation is opened, entrusted to the high mountain gendarmes.
