Two British skiers fell hundreds of metres to their deaths from a steep off-piste slope near Chamonix in the French Alps on Sunday.
The men, a 25-year-old Briton and an Anglo-French man aged 30, were skiing with a third man when they got into difficulty crossing a rocky area.
They were at an altitude of about 1,700m in the Couloir du Chapeau in the Grand Montets area when they plunged, one after the other, several hundred metres from the 40-degree slope in icy conditions.
Mountain police believe the group got into difficulty after following tracks in the area, popular with off-piste skiers, without realising that it had become extremely dangerous.
Rescue teams said they had been called to an incident at the same spot the previous day.
The third skier, who was not hurt, raised the alarm just after 11am and mountain rescue services were on the scene within 10 minutes. He was airlifted to Chamonix, while the bodies of his friends were recovered.
French investigators have opened an inquiry, but say the three men appear to have decided to take the perilous slope after seeing other ski tracks.
“The conditions at the time were not good and it seems they followed tracks to an area where we had already been called out on Saturday for an incident that fortunately wasn’t serious,” a spokesman for the mountain gendarmerie said.
“They were in an off-piste area well known and popular with skiers, but the snow at the moment is very compacted and icy, it’s not powder skiing. The conditions are not good.”
He added: “It is believed both the deceased men slipped and fell several hundred metres to their deaths.”
A week ago, after more than a month’s snow fell in just 48 hours, the resort at the foot of Mont Blanc was put on maximum avalanche alert.
About 200 people were evacuated from their homes and chalets in and around Chamonix, and more than 1,000 others were told to stay inside. Even marked pistes were closed to skiers.
Milder weather over the past few days has made the snow compacted and particularly icy. Officials have warned skiers to take extreme precaution when venturing off-piste and make sure they know the terrain and are confident they can deal with the conditions.
The Foreign Office said it was in touch with the French authorities and providing support to the victims’ families.
