Laruns, France – On Saturday, January 14, 2017 three backcountry ski tourers were caught in an avalanche in the Gabarderes Valley in the Pont-de-Camps sector in the Ossau Valley in the commune of Laruns in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southern France. One person died, one person was seriously injured, and one person escaped uninjured.
The avalanche accident occurred at around 13:00 outside of a ski area at approximately 1830 meters. All three skiers were caught in the slide. Two people were buried. They were a couple. The wife, 50, did not survive. The husband was found severely hypothermic (SudOuest.fr).
The uninjured individual alerted authorities. Rescuers included fire fighters, High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon, and dog teams responded to the scene of the accident. Due to bad weather, the injured individual could not be transported by helicopter. He was evacuated to the nearest road.
The avalanche risk at the time of the accident was 3 out of 5 (considerable). At 16:00, the avalanche risk in the Aspe-Ossau region of France increased from 3 to 4 (SudOuest.fr).
Read more about the avalanche near Pont-de-Camps in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques in France from the following sources:
- LeFigaro.fr
- LeParisien.fr
- SudOuest.fr
- LeMonde.fr
- LExpress.fr
- FranceBleu.fr
- FranceTVInfo.fr
- LeDauphine.com
All information in this post was found using Google Translate. There may be errors in this information. Please use the sources listed above to verify all facts.
