Zermatt under snow
Zermatt under snow
In Switzerland and parts of France the avalanche risk is now Level 5 - 'Very High'. The snowpack is 'extremely unstable' and the risk will be 'critical' in places by Friday. Already in Switzerland this winter 16 people have died in avalanches. There have been further fatalities and avalanches in France.

The avalanche danger level has been raised to Level 5 in some parts of the Alps as the snow continues to fall.

It is the highest level on the scale.

A walker was buried under 2.5m of snow in Val d'Isere in France, but was rescued alive as the man was caught in an air pocket.

He was buried for two hours and 40 minutes.

The rescue services have described it as a "miracle".


"Thanks to the mobilization of nearly 100 people: gendarmes of the PGHM and the mountain group of the Albertville company, ski patrollers, guides, ski instructors and firefighters, the man was found alive after 2 hours 40 minutes," said a post from Gendarmes de la Savioe.

The man was located thanks to the so-called Wolfhound device that was used by a rescuer from the PGHM.

This device is used to find the signal from a mobile phone.

Lucky to be alive
Lucky to be alive
The off piste specialist and good friend of ours at PlanetSKI, Henry Schniewind, has tweeted from Val d'Isere.

See here for our updated article on the incident as it turned out to be a family of four out for a walk.

It was the father who was buried:

Avalanche in Val d’Isere
Avalanche in Val d’Isere
Zermatt in Switzerland is at the heart of the storm and the railway line down the valley to Tasch has been closed due this afternoon to the threat of avalanches.

The resort is therefore cut off with helicopters unable to fly.

This happens several times a season, and occasionally for a few days, so is not unknown.

One of our regular readers and a good friend of PlanetSKI is Rowena Philipps from the local ski school, Matterhorn Diamonds.

"It's been snowing solidly since yesterday morning and due to continue until tomorrow lunchtime. We have had over a metre in the last 24-hours and the snow has been so heavy that not even the buses have been able to run in the village," said Rowena.


She sent us these images:

Zermatt under snow
Zermatt under snow
Streets in the village have been closed.

Zermatt under snow
Zermatt under snow

Zermatt under snow
Zermatt under snow
Heavy snow continues to fall elsewhere across large parts of the Swiss Alps accompanied by high winds.

The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Studies in Davos raised its warning to Level 5 in part of Switzerland at 17.00 on Thursday.

Avalanche level
Avalanche level

(Read more here)