Les Deux Alpes Tragedy

What seems to have happened is that the skiers on the closed piste were buried by an avalanche started by skiers above who were off piste.

This is, of course, a terrible tragedy, and reminds us all who long for our own short time on the snow just how dangerous it really is.
Its pretty obvious that when weather has been unusual, and then theres a massive dump of snow, that things will be unstable - hence the 4/5 warnings that had been in place in many resorts.

We can only speculate how these kids ended up on a closed piste, but one thing is for sure, they shouldn't have been there. The bad luck of being on it as skiers off piste above them caused the avalanche is tragic.

We've all seen the "piste ferme" signs or "geschlossen" and watched as people have simply lifted up the rope and scuttled off down these runs. Whether these people are locals who know "best", experienced back country skiers looking for another thrill, holiday makers thinking "it'll be alright" or just people demonstrating downright stupidity, the bottom line is that the piste will have been closed for a reason. It may not be obvious looking at the slope what that reason is, but if you ask me, the people who know best are the pisteurs in that resort.

I will admit in the past to ending up on a run that was closed by accident in Alpe d'Huez, entering into it from off piste terrain above, but it was busy with other skiers and seemed to be obviously open from where I entered it. Luckily it was ok, and had been closed because of bare patches and rocks showing through - a particularly tough black at the best of times with big moguls. It seems many of us are unaware that insurance is invalid if you are on a piste which has been designated and marked as closed.

However, as Admin says, the piste naming in L2A may have been confusing for some, and this may have seemed like the right decision at the time they started the run. We will probably never know. But its often a series of events that causes a tragedy, not just the one slip or fall, and in this case a closed piste with off piste skiers above.....

In time I am sure it will become clearer whether they were with a guide, instructor, teacher or just skiing with fellow pupils, and I am sure that someone somewhere will be accountable for this tragedy by having been the one who was either in charge or who made the decision to ski down a closed piste. However I have no doubt that decision would have been taken with any intent for anyone to get hurt, so there will be a great deal of sadness around this whole event, as well as the inevitable finger pointing and blaming that may follow.

All of this simply serves to remind us all, all of us who love and crave our skiing, those small chances we take to get out there, that the mountains are dangerous places, and we do well to respect this as it is all too easy (and I include myself in this) to be over confident and blasé up there.

My thoughts are with everyone connected with this tragedy. Having recently lost a close relative (non-skiing but tragic in its own way) the emotion is still raw, and I appreciate the grief, anger, guilt and sadness these people are going to be feeling. If nothing else, these people I hope will be able to gain the kind of strength I have been able to from the closeness of their respective families.

Of course in the UK, all state schools have rules in place where teachers or staff are not allowed to lead groups unless they are certified instructors and thus most Kids are lead by instructors in resorts. I know it doesn't lessen the tragedy but to ski a closed area with kids? You have got to ask all sorts of questions.

Admin wrote:

dobby wrote:LDA renamed all the pistes a few years ago to make things, erm, easier. Apparently.

Jeez; looking at the piste map, there are five pistes named Bellecombes. Bellecombes 2 is a Blue that goes left from the top of the chair, Bellecombes 5 is the Black to the right. Poor vis, fading light at 4pm, steamy goggles... mistake black for blue (assuming it wasn't clearly marked closed with a barrier), right name, wrong piste? :(

Ive never been to L2A so no first hand experience but looking at the map (a macabre thing to do at this time I accept but I think we are all trying to understand "why") I can totally see how the scenario that Adders outlines above could have happened. If it is then its even more senseless a tragedy.

Hug your loved ones tight folks - its all too fleeting a time we have

A real tragedy and horrible for the families of the victims. Rescue response appears to have been fantastic with several kids dug out of the snow - it was reported that 2 of them in cardiac arrest when rescued and are now in hospital. It could have been much worse.

From what I have read, the group was a school group from Lyons. Apparently, it is a regular thing for the school(s) to do day trips to the slopes. Effectively, this would have been their PE class. I would expect that the teacher(s) and pupils would have been very experienced skiers and would have known the resort very well. One of the teachers is critically ill in hospital so the kids would appear to have been accompanied on the slope.

Planet Ski reporting that the teacher has been placed in police custody on suspicion of causing multiple manslaughter.