Avalanche deaths in France: Why so many this year?
There have already been 12 deaths since Christmas
Experts are highlighting increased avalanche deaths in the French mountains this year
Kirill Ts/Shutterstock
Since Christmas 2025, there have been 12 victims in France with the most recent deaths recorded on February 9, when two people died in separate avalanches – one in the Belledonne range, near Sainte-Agnès (Isère), and another in Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes).
Other incidents include:
Saturday, February 7: Two people died after being swept away while cross-country skiing in Saint-Véran (also in the Hautes-Alpes)
Friday, January 23: A skier died near the Cime de Sambuis in Saint-Colomban-des-Villards (Savoie)
Monday, January 19: An off-piste skier died after being buried in Val-d'Isère (Savoie)
January 10 and 11: Six people died across Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
This winter has been “very accident-prone”, said Stéphane Bornet, director of the national avalanche study association, l’Association nationale pour l’étude de la neige et des avalanches (ANENA), to Actu.fr.
“The number of fatal accidents this year is much higher than the average over the last 10 years.”
This bucks the trend, which otherwise shows a decline in fatalities; ANENA recorded an average of 22 deaths per year for the decade 2015-2025, compared to 33 for the previous decade.
Climate change a factor
Climate change and warmer temperatures have been blamed for the increase in incidents this year.
Climate change may appear to lead to less risk, because higher temperatures mean less snow overall at lower altitudes, fewer avalanches in general, and a shorter avalanche season. The French Alps saw a 19% drop in avalanches in winter between 1980 to 2009.
However, rising temperatures also contribute to more avalanches at altitudes above 2,000 metres. This is because snow melts and changes in consistency more frequently and unpredictably in comparison to earlier years.
Changing weather conditions from cold to mild also play a role.
“The recent deadly avalanches in France have the same cause: a weather disturbance that brings a lot of snow and wind, followed by beautiful weather that encourages people to go out, especially for off-piste skiing, without giving the mountains time to stabilise,” said Mr Bornet, quoted in Le Monde.
‘Wet avalanches’
Similarly, climate change causes more intense snowfall at higher altitudes, and a rise in “wet avalanches”, which have more liquid (melted snow or rain) in them than in previous years.
“[Wet avalanches] are denser and can therefore exert greater pressure and impact,” said Nicolas Eckert, an expert in mountain risks at the French environment research institute INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement) and the University of Grenoble-Alpes, to Le Monde.
Mr Eckert is the lead author of a major 2024 review of literature on the impact of climate change on avalanches, and yet, he has said that it is very difficult to know exactly how many avalanches occur, due to a lack of a precise definition of the phenomenon.
Data extrapolated from 3,000-4,000 monitored gullies indicate around 1,000 avalanches a year in the Alps and Pyrenees, suggest figures from INRAE and forestry office l’Office national des forêts.
However, the associations say that these estimates are unlikely to show the true picture. They estimate that 99% of avalanches occur naturally, but 1% are triggered due to the activity of skiers, mountaineers, or hikers.
Climate change and changing risk: A warning
Experts predict that there will be up to 30% fewer avalanches by 2100 (compared to 1990), but a higher number at high altitudes of 3,000 metres or more.
This means that the risk of avalanche accidents and fatalities will decline (partly also to improved safety equipment, better monitoring, and faster emergency service response times), but will not disappear. Instead, the risk will change.
“A large proportion of the latest deaths were skiers who were unaware of the risks and the terrain, skiing off-piste without safety equipment when the risk of avalanches was high,” said Mr Bornet.
“It's like jumping into a swollen river without a life jacket. The difference is that you can see the flood, whereas the snow hides the dangers,” he said, and called for better training and awareness among skiers and rescuers.
