A lone backcountry skier was rescued Thursday after being fully buried in an avalanche near Saint-Véran in the Hautes-Alpes department of southeastern France, authorities reported.
The skier, a man in his sixties, was quickly dug out by fellow mountain enthusiasts who witnessed the slide, according to Le Dauphiné Libéré. He was found to be unharmed.
The incident prompted a response from the Pelton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne (PGHM) of Jausiers, a specialized mountain rescue unit. The PGHM was alerted to the avalanche and dispatched to the scene, though the skier had already been extricated by the time rescuers arrived.
This rescue comes less than two weeks after a fatal avalanche in the nearby commune of La Grave claimed the lives of two skiers. On February 17th, two men, a Polish national born in 1987 and a British-Polish dual citizen born in 1989, were killed even as skiing off-piste in the Côte Fine area. Their guide, a French national, was injured and evacuated to a hospital in Grenoble. Two other skiers, one German and one Australian, were unharmed in that incident. The Gap prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the causes of that avalanche.
The La Grave avalanche occurred as the group of five skiers were navigating the challenging terrain known for its off-piste opportunities. Authorities issued an appeal for witnesses at the time, requesting anyone who had skied in the area that day without a professional guide to come forward.
Separately, on the same day as the rescue near Saint-Véran, authorities continued to investigate a February 17th avalanche in La Grave that resulted in two fatalities. The victims were identified as a 30-year-old Polish man and a 36-year-old man of British and Polish nationality.