A train derailed in Switzerland on Monday following a weekend of deadly avalanches across the European Alps, as heavy snowfall and a high avalanche risk prompted evacuations and road closures around Mont Blanc. Swiss police reported five injuries in the derailment near Goppenstein, attributing the incident to a snow slide.
The derailment occurred amid a series of fatal avalanches in recent days. In France’s Val d’Isère, two British skiers were among three killed on Friday while skiing with an instructor. Albertville prosecutor Benoît Bachelet confirmed the instructor tested negative for drugs and alcohol. A separate incident in Courmayeur, Italy, claimed the lives of two skiers on Sunday in the Couloir Vesses, a popular off-piste route. A French national skiing alone was also killed in France during the same period.
Italy’s Alpine Rescue reported a particularly grim period, with 13 off-piste skiers, climbers, and hikers dying in the Italian mountains in the week ending February 8th, ten of those fatalities occurring in avalanches. Federico Catania, a spokesperson for Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps, explained that even the passage of a single skier could be enough to trigger an avalanche given the current conditions.
The European avalanche warning system currently lists large areas of the western Alps at a grade 5 risk – categorized as “extraordinary” and rare – indicating the possibility of “numerous very large and extremely large natural avalanches” threatening valley roads and settlements. Under these conditions, skiers and mountaineers are advised to avoid all but open and unthreatened slopes.
The dangerous conditions are the result of a combination of recent heavy snowfall, high winds depositing snow on unstable layers, and lean snow conditions earlier in the season. Luc Nicolino, slopes manager at La Plagne, described the snowpack as a “mille-feuille with many hidden, fragile layers” to Agence France-Presse. Storm Nils contributed to the instability, depositing between 60cm and 100cm of snow last week, with a further 40-50cm predicted in some areas on Monday.
Daniel Matthews, an adventure skier who was caught in an avalanche in the French Alps on Friday, shared his experience on Instagram, describing being buried for eight minutes after a couloir collapsed. He attributed the incident to a “very disappointing decision” and “uneducated decision” to ski Skimans Couloir in Tignes, acknowledging his failure to heed warning signs.
