Another British Skier Dies in an Avalanche in France
16th February 2026
Last modified on February 19th, 2026
He died in La Grave and it follows the death of two other Britons in Val d’Isere in the last week. There have been further avalanche deaths in Austria, Italy, France & Switzerland. UPDATED
In the latest incident two people died in La Grave on Tuesday.
One was a British man in his 30s and the other skier came from Poland and lived in Switzerland.
He was the third British skier to die in an avalanche in the past week in the French Alps.
Last Friday two Britons died in an avalanche in Val d’Isere France:
They have been named as Stuart Leslie, 46, and Shaun Overy who was 51.
In the La Grave accident, a large avalanche was triggered in the Côte Fine corridor.
Five people including a guide were caught in the slide.
The guide was injured and is being treated in the Grenoble University Hospital.
Two others, a German and an Australian, were unharmed.
All were wearing avalanche transcievers.
The rescue services were unable to get to the scene by helicopter due to adverse weather and reached the scene by skis.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who died in France and are in contact with the local authorities”.
The avalanche risk was Level 4 (High) at the time.
An investigation has opened.
There have been around 80 avalanche deaths in Europe this winter – much higher than the seasonal average for the time of year.
Avalanche in Tignes. Image c/o David Morgan.
With severe risk across large areas it is feared the number of fatalities will rise in the following days as the snow is cleared and further areas are open.
Likely when the risk goes down to Level 3 (considerable), which is when the most deaths occur as people believe it to be safer off piste than it actually is.
What is causing the high number of avalanches?
Multiple snowstorms have fallen on an already weak snowpack and the snow hasn’t had time to stabilize between storms.
There are buried layers of instability that can cause fractures across large distances.
Strong winds have come with the storms and load certain areas with even more snow.
In Valloire in France where the avalanche risk was raised to Level 5, six people were buried on Tuesday.
One person died with two others seriously injured.
Some resorts in the Savoyard area of the French Alps have again been placed on a Level 5 warning this week.
In Switzerland an avalanche de-railed a train injuring five people.
The accident happened near the village of Goppenstein in southern Switzerland.
The regional commuter train was on its way from Spiez to Brig when it derailed.
“According to initial findings, an avalanche may have crossed the tracks shortly before the train passed,” police stated.
The public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.
The legendary French snowboarder Xavier de le Rue makes some important and telling points on Instagram on the current situation and his post is well worth a read:
View this post on Instagram
Details have been released by the authorities of further fatalities that happened in Austria last weekend.
Two 37-year-old Austrian snowboarders were killed by an avalanche in the freeride area of the Stubai Glacier near Innsbruck.
A search operation was launched on Sunday evening after the two men failed to return home.
Their vehicle was found in the parking area of the Stubai Glacier cable car station.
A large search operation was launched.
A mobile phone signal analysis narrowed the search area.
Drone imagery later revealed an avalanche in the “Mutterbergalm” freRuceride area.
The thermal imaging and visual cameras mounted on the drones had spotted what ground crews could not see in the gathering darkness — a debris field spread across the steep terrain.
The buried snowboarders were located on Sunday night, but emergency services “could only confirm the death of the two men,” police said in a statement.
Authorities have not released the names of the two victims at the families’ request.
There was an avalanche risk of 4 out of 5 at the time.
On Sunday there was an avalanche in Courmayeur in Italy that killed two people.
They were caught at 11am in the Val Veny area of the resort in the Aosta Valley.
They were skiing off piste in the Vesses couloir – one was pronounced dead at the scene, and another died later in hospital.
A third man is being treated in hospital in Turin and remains in a ‘critical’ condition.
Their identities and nationalities have not been released.
The search and rescue team consisted of 15 rescuers and three dog units.
Two helicopters were used.
12 people died in the Italian mountains in the first week of February alone.
Also on Sunday a 38-year-old snowboarder was buried and killed by an avalanche in Davos, Switzerland.
Avalanche in Davos.Image c/o Graubunden Cantonal Police.
The Swiss man was snowboarding off-piste with another person.
The Graubunden cantonal police said the avalanche struck at around 1.30pm in the Parsenn ski area.
The accompanying person immediately alerted the rescue services and began searching for the buried victim.
His body was found and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
There was further ‘High’ risk in the Alps on Tuesday 17th February with many parts of Switzerland and France under a Level 4 warning.
Avalanche warning for Switzerland for Tuesday 17th February. Image c/o Swiss Avalanches Institute.
There have been 12 avalanche deaths this season in Switzerland.
Last Saturday three skiers were caught in an avalanche while skiing near Airolo in Switzerland.
Two of them died and the third person was uninjured.
The victims were a 35-year-old Belgian man and a 30-year-old Belgian man living in Germany.
The avalanche risk at the time was Level 3+ (considerable).
In the Slovakian High Tatras a mountaineer was buried by an avalanche on Saturday.
Last week saw resorts in France closing the whole of their ski areas as the risk was put at Level 5 (Very High), which is extremely rare.
The authorities are urging extreme caution off piste and for those skiers & snowboarders venturing beyond the marked runs to be properly equipped and to obey all the rules.
See our snow report that was updated on Tuesday 17th February for further details of the new snowfall:
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