death of two Estonian skiers

Two skiers died buried by an avalanche on Sunday, January 12, while they were off-piste in the Val-d’Isère area (Savoie), emergency services told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming information from Dauphiné Libéré. The two victims were part of a group of six Estonian skiers who were traveling in the off-piste sector of the Envers du Cugnaï, not equipped with avalanche devices, “when a plate 100 meters wide and 300 meters long came loose”according to a press release from Val-d’Isère.

Four men in their thirties were buried, including one up to the waist, who was able to get out quickly, emergency services told AFP. First responders were able to free one of the completely buried skiers in less than ten minutes. He was conscious and still breathing. The two other skiers were found by the station’s dog teams in cardio-respiratory arrest, one after more than 40 minutes buried, the other after more than 50 minutes. They died on the spot, emergency services said.

Trackers were patrolling the site at the time of the avalanche and immediately began rescue and search operations. Using the station’s technical helicopter, seven dog trackers from Val-d’Isère and Tignes intervened, supported by two helicopter-borne mountain rescue crews. In all, around twenty rescue trackers intervened, accompanied by monitors who came as reinforcements to help with the survey and the station doctor.

The avalanche risk was « fort » Sunday, with an index of 4 out of 5 on several massifs of the northern Alps and Hautes-Alpes, after the snowfall of recent days. In its forecasts, Météo-France specifies that the places conducive to triggering are in high mountains (altitude limits depending on the massifs) and “are often not visually identifiable, because they are due to a persistent weak layer buried in the snow cover”.

This layer formed during the anticyclonic period and was covered by recent snowfall. These snowfalls were accompanied by a strong wind, facilitating the formation of slabs and increasing the probability of triggering.