'Not something that happens regularly': Snowboarder suffocates to death after fall

Flaine stationin Haute-Savoie, was the scene of a tragedy on Christmas Eve. A 36-year-old man died after a fall while snowboarding.

Choked by powder

It is our colleagues from Dauphiné Libéré who are relaying this terrible information: Tuesday December 24, the victim was on an off-piste section but in the ski area, when she fell and landed face first in the snow. The 30-year-old then suffocated with it, without anyone around him to help him and call for help.

“Not something that happens regularly”

A past skier a little later was able to raise the alarmbut unfortunately it was too late. The Haute-Savoie Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM), contacted by the newspaper, explained that there was “a lot of powder”, while recognizing that this kind of drama “is not something that happens regularly”.

“Despite our intervention, we couldn't resuscitate him“, he added, this time to our colleagues from France Bleu. On the side of the gendarmes, several questions arise: “We don't know why he didn't succeed to free oneself by one's own means and how long He got his head stuck in the snow.

Beware of avalanches

Note that on the Alps side, yellow avalanche vigilance is still activated this Friday, December 27, 2024. Haute-Savoie, but also Savoie, Isère, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Alpes-Maritimes are facing this alert. On December 25, an avalanche claimed the life of a 13-year-old teenager who was going off-piste in Savoie.