Satellite image acquired January 5, 2026, showing extensive snow cover around Val Thorens and Les Menuires in Savoie, France, ahead of a series of deadly avalanche incidents reported in mid-January. Credit: CopernicusEU/Sentinel-2, The Watchers
A 50-year-old British man was buried by an avalanche at a ski resort in Savoie on Sunday, according to a statement from the resort. Fifty-two rescue workers, sniffer dogs, and a helicopter were deployed, but it took 50 minutes to find the man, who was trapped under 2.5 m (8 feet) of snow, and he could not be revived.
In nearby Courchevel, also in Savoie, another person was buried by an avalanche and found dead in the late morning. Multiple skiers and snowboarders were injured at resorts in Tignes and Orelle.
A 32-year-old man also died in an avalanche in Vallorcine near the Swiss border. The snowslide swept him away while he was skiing off-piste and hurled him against a tree. He later succumbed to his injuries.
Three off-piste skiers died on January 10 in two separate avalanches in Savoie—two men in Val d’Isère and another in Arêches-Beaufort.
The two men in Val d’Isère were not equipped with avalanche transceivers and could only be located via their mobile phones, buried under 2.5 m (8.2 feet) of snow.
Heavy snowfall over the weekend forced around 800 people to spend the night in gymnasiums in Moûtiers, a key transport hub for Savoie’s ski resorts.
Another 29 people were accommodated overnight in an emergency center, while about 40 people spent part of the night stranded on a bus on the road to the Arc 2000 resort.
References:
1 Six dead in Savoie, accidents in Isère: maximum vigilance in the Alps after tragedies – actugrenoble – January 12, 2026
2 Skiers killed in avalanches in the French Alps – Perth Now – January 12, 2026