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Avalanche in Val Thorens 27/12/2013
There was an avalanche in the Boismint sector of Val Thorens around 10am on Friday 27th December 2013. Three people were caught - two up to their waists, and one buried under 1m50 of snow. The buried skier was dug out, and although he had stopped breathing, he was resuscitated and taken to Moutiers hospital.
27th December 2013
There was an avalanche in the Boismint sector of Val Thorens around 10am on Friday 27th December 2013. Reports, for example in Liberation, state that a group of seven skiers set off the avalanche. Three skiers were caught, two of them up to the waist. The third skier was buried under 1m50 of snow. When he was dug out, he had stopped breathing, but he was resuscitated, and taken to Moutiers hospital. Local reports suggest it was the ski instructor leading a group.
Gregory Guzzo, director of the tourist office in Val Thorens, was quoted by Liberation as saying, 'In Val Thorens, we have thirty or so screens all over resort, indicating the very high avalanche risk, and the dangers of off piste skiing. I'm very sorry to see people take risks like that.'
However, the avalanche risk was given as 3 out of five, which is surprisingly low, given the high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, then significant snowfalls on Wednesday night and Thursday. Risk 3 would not in itself mean that it was unreasonable to ski off piste, within the boundaries of the ski area, but an analysis of the weather and snow immediately before Friday morning would suggest great caution was required.