A skier and a mountaineer were killed on Wednesday, May 19 in two separate avalanches that were triggered in Haute-Savoie, in the Mont-Blanc massif, where the outings are made dangerous by the snow conditions, emergency services said. in the mountains.
Read also: Seven dead in two avalanches in Savoie
The first carried and buried around 10:30 am a 23-year-old skier moving downhill with a 26-year-old friend on the west face of the Cosmiques corridor, which culminates at 3600 meters above sea level. The victim was at the head of the duo when a wind slab broke off under his skis and swept it away for 500 meters. His body was located at the foot of the flow by his companion and other skiers using the Avalanche Victim Detector (DVA) system. The young man was then extracted by the rescuers of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) of Chamonix, who tried in vain to revive him.
The second avalanche was fatal to a very experienced 61-year-old climber who progressed with crampons on his feet at an altitude of 3,750 meters on the south face of the Cosmiques ridge. The flow started when the sixty-year-old passed by shortly before 12:45 p.m. and carried him over nearly 300 meters in a corridor. The victim was located by high mountain guides using a probe, then extracted from the snow with a shovel by the rescuers of the PGHM of Chamonix.
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The significant accumulations of snow in the area, partly due to the wind, require great vigilance, even a renunciation,
" warned Colonel Stéphane Bozon, commander of this unit specializing in helping victims in perilous environments. “
We are in winter conditions, with more than a meter of snow in places. It's a good thing we didn't have more deaths today,
”he adds.