Modane, France – At roughly 16:45 on March 25, 2018 two skiers from Grenoble were killed in an avalanche while descending the west side of the 3086-meter Belle Plinier near Modane in Savoie, France.
A group of 3 French skiers had left Valfrejus to ascend the Belle Pilinier. Upon their descent, at around 2000 meters, the trio triggered an avalanche. Two members of the party were caught in the avalanche that measured 500 meters long by 50-100 meters wide. The third skier escaped the slide, but lost his pack and cell phone.
The 3rd skier descended to the closest hamlet to find help and alert authorities. Rescuers responded by helicopter and located the victims quickly. Unfortunately the two ski tourers did not survive.
PisteHors.com writes that “The west face is not particularly difficult, the slope is a maximum of 35 degrees but is prone to slabs after fresh snow / snow transport. The avalanche risk was 2/5 in the sector but the bulletin spoke of a persistent weak layer on locally on west facing slopes close to the border with Italy.”
LeDauphine.com identified the victims as Claire Nicolas, 57, and Armelle Cavet, 58, both from Grenoble, France.
We will try to update this post when more information is available.
See Also: Global Avalanche Accidents 2017/2018
Read more about the avalanche on the Belle Plinier in Modane, France from the following sources:
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.
