Two people lost their lives as a result of a Mont Blanc avalanche on Thursday, while a third died after a fall in the Ecrins mountain range in Isère, French authorities reported.
The avalanche occurred early in the afternoon off-piste, near Saint-Gervais-les-Bains ski resort on the Mont Blanc range, the Haute-Savoie prefecture said.
A snow slide began at around 2,300 metres in altitude, tumbling down for 400 metres, and involved eight people, according to Animya N’Tchandy, chief-of-staff of the Prefect of Haute-Savoie. A tally revealed “two fatal victims, one minor injury, and five other people left unharmed,” the chief of staff said, adding that an investigation has been launched.
In Isère, a young man aged 31, who went “off-trail with a friend to see chamois,” fell 500 metres from a rock ledge in the Chantepérier commune within the Ecrins range, the Grenoble High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon reported. The other hiker, aged 26, was rescued and is unharmed.
