Deadly Avalanche Wave Pounds Alps; California Backcountry Disaster Leaves Eight Dead, One Missing

Overview

• At La Grave (Hautes-Alpes), two off‑piste skiers were killed in the Côte Fine couloir as a five‑person group was caught, with their French guide injured and evacuated to Grenoble and two others unharmed; prosecutors opened a causes‑of‑death inquiry led by Briançon gendarmes, and the avalanche danger was rated 4/5.
• The La Grave victims were identified as a Polish man born in 1987 and a British national originally from Poland born in 1989, according to prosecutor Marion Lozac’hmeur.
• Near Valloire in Savoie, a large natural avalanche about 300 meters wide swept walkers, leaving one dead and two seriously injured, crossing the departmental road and prompting evacuations of roughly 100–120 people as authorities maintained avalanche vigilance and cautioned about suravalanche risk.
• France’s season avalanche death toll has risen to about 28, while separate incidents in Italy and Austria added fatalities this week, including three deaths near Courmayeur and three more reported in Tyrol and Vorarlberg under level‑4 danger.
• In California’s Sierra Nevada near Castle Peak, a guided group of 15 was overtaken during a severe storm, with eight of nine missing found dead and one still unaccounted for as extreme weather stalls recovery and investigators review decisions by Blackbird Mountain Guides under high avalanche warnings.