{"id":14832,"date":"2026-02-21T09:23:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/14832\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T09:23:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T09:23:27","slug":"2-foreign-skiers-killed-in-avalanche-at-la-grave-france-after-entering-strongly-discouraged-zone-with-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/14832\/","title":{"rendered":"2 Foreign Skiers Killed in Avalanche at La Grave, France, After Entering “Strongly Discouraged” Zone With Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"\"\"La Grave at dawn in February 2026. Image: SnowBrains<\/p>\n

Another tragic reminder of how serious big-mountain skiing can be unfolded Tuesday, February 17, in La Grave, France, where two skiers in their 30s were killed in an avalanche on the resort\u2019s legendary high-alpine terrain. The avalanche occurred in an off-piste sector of the domain, an area known worldwide for its steep, unmarked lines accessed by a single lift system. According to the report by PGHM, at least five people were in the zone when the large avalanche released.<\/p>\n

The two victims\u2014a 39-year-old Polish skier and a 37-year-old British skier of Polish descent\u2014were killed in the accident. A mountain guide supervising the group sustained injuries to his leg and was evacuated to Grenoble University Hospital. Two other skiers, identified as German and Australian nationals, escaped the avalanche unharmed. The public prosecutor\u2019s office in Gap has opened an investigation to determine the exact cause of death and whether the avalanche was triggered naturally or by skiers.<\/p>\n

La Grave is unlike most ski resorts. There are no groomed pistes and no marked trails\u2014just a single cable car rising into vast, high-mountain terrain. The freedom is part of its identity and allure.<\/p>\n

The area is operated by SATA Group, whose teams rely on experienced \u201cmonitoring guides\u201d to evaluate daily conditions. These 10 mountain guides post recommendations each morning at the base of the lift, outlining which sectors are considered more stable and which should be avoided.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, \u00a0the first section of the mountain opened, indicating that snow conditions were stabilized in certain areas. However, the C\u00f4te Fine sector\u2014where the avalanche occurred\u2014had been \u201cstrongly discouraged\u201d due to unstable conditions.<\/p>\n

Fabrice Boutet, general manager of SATA, expressed frustration and sadness following the incident. \u201cWe offered a sector that allowed skiing in full powder, on slopes that are not groomed but where conditions were considered manageable,\u201d Boutet said in an interview with French news. \u201cGiven the avalanche danger\u2014rated 4 out of 5, and in our eyes nearly a 5\u2014leaving the areas we believed we could reasonably assess was an unfortunate risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avalanche danger in the Hautes-Alpes and across the Northern Alps remains high. M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France has maintained the hazard rating at Level 4 out of 5, signaling a very unstable snowpack with the potential for large natural avalanches. Level 4 conditions mean natural slides are likely and human-triggered avalanches are highly probable\u2014especially on steep, wind-loaded terrain. In big alpine environments like La Grave, where there is no avalanche control in the traditional resort sense, consequences can be catastrophic.<\/p>\n

Alongside another avalanche incident which killed a single skier, this takes the annual number of avalanche deaths in France to 28, way above the 10-year annual average of 21.6. There have been approximately 75 avalanche fatalities in the Alps this season so far. Winter is only half way over.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Pulse gondola. Image: SnowBrains<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"La Grave at dawn in February 2026. Image: SnowBrains Another tragic reminder of how serious big-mountain skiing can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,902,197,1001,8353],"class_list":{"0":"post-14832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alps","8":"tag-alps","9":"tag-avalanche","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-la-grave"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}