A series of deadly avalanches has continued to claim lives in the French Alps, with a British national among at least three people killed in two separate incidents on Tuesday. These tragic events bring the total death toll for the winter season in the French Alps to 28, underscoring the perilous conditions for skiers and hikers in the region.

The first incident on Tuesday morning involved a group of five off-piste skiers and their guide near the French resort of La Grave. The avalanche struck the Côte Fine couloir, resulting in two skiers being found in cardiorespiratory arrest and later pronounced dead. Marion Lozac'Hmeur, Public Prosecutor of Gap, identified one victim as a Polish man born in 1987, and the other as a British national, born in 1989, originally from Poland and residing in Switzerland. The French guide sustained injuries and was transported to Grenoble University Hospital, while two other skiers, from Germany and Australia, escaped unharmed. An investigation has been launched by the Briançon High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon, though the exact circumstances are still under review pending interviews with survivors. Rescuers, comprising mountain gendarmes, an emergency doctor, local guides, and trackers with a search dog, reached the scene by land due to poor weather grounding helicopters. The French weather service had marked the avalanche risk in the La Grave area as "high," or four on a five-point scale, attributed to fresh snow and wind.

Later the same day, around midday, a second major avalanche, approximately 300 meters wide, swept across a road and footpath in the town of Valloire in Savoie. This incident claimed one life and left four others injured, two of whom were in serious condition and required airlift to nearby hospitals. Rescue operations continued for over four hours before being halted in the late afternoon due to the heightened risk of further avalanches. At the Valloire resort, the avalanche risk was categorized at the maximum level of five. Local authorities have initiated investigations into both avalanches.

These latest fatalities follow a series of deadly incidents this season. Just days prior, on Friday, three skiers – a French national and two Britons – died in an avalanche in the upmarket French Alpine resort of Val d’Isere. The British victims were identified as Stuart Leslie, 46, an experienced off-piste skier, and Shaun Overy, 51, who ran a plumbing business in Wimbledon, south west London. Emergency services responded swiftly, but despite the victims possessing avalanche transceivers, their lives could not be saved. This tragedy occurred shortly after a rare, day-long red avalanche alert was issued across the south-eastern Savoie region on Thursday – a danger level only issued twice before since the system's introduction 25 years ago, prompting several resorts to close all or part of their pistes.

The dangerous conditions have led to multiple other incidents as well. Days before the Val d'Isere tragedy, avalanches killed two skiers in separate incidents in the French Alps: a 38-year-old man in Saint-Agnes near Grenoble, and a man in his early 30s caught in a "very large avalanche" near Montgenevre. Earlier in the season, on February 7, two off-piste ski tourers died near Saint-Veran after an avalanche swept down the north side of the Tete de Longet mountain peak, impacting an unguided group of four skiers. The Foreign Office has confirmed it is in contact with local authorities and stands ready to offer consular assistance to British nationals affected. With at least 20 skiers already having died across the wider French, Swiss, Italian, and Austrian Alps earlier this season, the cumulative death toll highlights the extreme dangers faced by those venturing into the mountains this winter.