{"id":474901,"date":"2026-03-14T08:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T08:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474901\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T08:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T08:25:09","slug":"rescuers-blame-weather-and-underprepared-skiers-for-rise-in-avalanche-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/474901\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuers blame weather and &#8216;underprepared skiers\u2019 for rise in avalanche deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">From the vantage point of our helicopter above the Alps, you can make out scars and dimples from recent avalanches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">More than 100 people have died across the mountains this season so far, according to the European Avalanche Warning Services \u2013 a ballpark figure not seen for eight years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">As our pilot throws his rescue helicopter over one of the jagged ridges below us, we see ant-like skiers queueing at lifts or weaving down various pistes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">There is an enthralling beauty about the dense snow that sits atop the Tarentaise, an imposing network of valleys here in the heart of the French Alps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;As with all around the world, the climate is changing,&#8221; says Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Bonnevie, our guide and a mountain patroller for 32 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He points to shorter winters, and the best powder now being found at a higher altitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And although thick, this season&#8217;s snow covering has been unstable, contributing to a steep rise in the number of people killed by alpine avalanches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Bonnevie explains they can control the conditions on the pistes, but not off them, and that&#8217;s where skiers have been getting into perilous difficulties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From the vantage point of our helicopter above the Alps, you can make out scars and dimples from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-474901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}