A winter drama… This Sunday, January 26, three skiers died during skiing accidents in the Pyrenees: a 51-year-old Spanish woman died after falling against a rock and two hikers were buried by an avalanche, we learned from emergency services on Monday.
Two men aged 60 and 70 died on a black slope at the Grand Tourmalet ski resortin a part of the ski area closed to the public due to a storm, with winds blowing at more than 100 km/h, Warrant Officer Mathieu Bonhomme, rescuer from the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon, told AFP ( PGHM) of the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Having left on Sunday morning for a ski touring trip, they were found dead during the night from Sunday to Monday, but the bodies could not be freed from the snow until Monday morning.
Black slopes prohibited from access
The Grand Tourmalet station clarified to AFP that only the beginner sector was open to the public on Sunday and all red and black slopes were prohibited access due to poor weather conditions.
-Relatives of the two experienced and well-equipped skiers alerted the PGHM. A helicopter, a quad, ski rescuers and a drone equipped with a thermal camera were mobilized for the research.
“The skiers were probably trapped by a wind slab”a pile of snow formed by the wind, indicated Warrant Officer Bonhomme.
The other accident took place on a black slope at the Font Romeu ski resort, in the Pyrénées-Orientales. The Spanish skier died instantly in a fallwhen her head hit a rock, while she was wearing a helmet, according to the PGHM.
