New drama in Cervières. A 33-year-old skier died this Saturday following an avalanche in the Hautes-Alpes, the Gap prosecutor’s office said on Saturday. The man “was skiing in the company of another skier, unharmed because the latter was pressed against a tree during the slide,” said Gap prosecutor Marion Lozach’meur, confirming information from Dauphiné Libéré. The man, living in Lyon, died in hospital.
Emergency services were notified on Saturday at 2:15 p.m., after the triggering of this avalanche on the east face of the Arpelin, said the CRS mountain of Briançon. An autopsy must be carried out as part of an open investigation into the causes of death, while the avalanche risk was “marked”, 3 on a scale of 5, in the Southern Alps.
This Friday, a 65-year-old snowshoer had already been killed in an avalanche, also in Cervières. His body was found around 9 a.m. at a place called La Chaud, at an altitude of 1,900 m, on an unmarked route. A mountain professional had seen “sticks and snowshoe marks entering the flow but not coming out”, which prompted him to raise the alarm. An investigation was also opened.
