A tragic incident in the French Alps has claimed the life of a British skier during off-piste activities at the renowned La Plagne resort. The victim, reportedly in his fifties, was engulfed by an avalanche while skiing without essential safety equipment or professional guidance.
Emergency responders received the alert at 13:57 local time (12:57 GMT) on Sunday, immediately deploying a comprehensive rescue operation. The search team, comprising over 50 specialized personnel including medical experts, ski instructors, and a helicopter-assisted canine unit, located the buried skier after an intensive 50-minute operation. He was discovered beneath 2.5 meters (8 feet) of compacted snow.
Critical investigation revealed the skier had ventured into unpatrolled terrain without an avalanche transceiver—a standard safety device that emits signals to rescuers—and without accompaniment by certified mountain professionals. La Plagne resort management expressed profound condolences to the victim’s family while emphasizing the inherent dangers of backcountry skiing.
The resort’s official safety protocols explicitly advise visitors engaging in off-piste activities to consult daily Avalanche Risk Bulletins and carry avalanche detection equipment. This incident occurs during the Northern Hemisphere’s peak avalanche season, which typically runs from December through February, when snowpack instability increases dramatically.
This tragedy echoes similar recent mountain accidents across European ski destinations, including last month’s fatal avalanche in Italy’s Dolomite mountains that claimed five German climbers, among them a teenage girl and her father.