 The Alps are at risk of avalanches due to heavy snow fall |
Recent heavy snowfalls across the Alps have sharply increased the risk of avalanches, with skiers and snowboarders being urged to take extreme caution. Some, though, are simply ignoring the advice and putting their lives in danger.
In parts of the Alps, one-and-a-half metres of snow has fallen in the past week.
In Chamonix, the danger level is five on a scale of five, while many other resorts have a level of four.
It is now as dangerous as it was in 1999, when an avalanche killed 12 people from the town.
As the heavy snowfalls began in Chamonix, two people died when a helicopter carrying out controlled detonations of the snow crashed into a pylon in the Argentiere area.
The pilot and avalanche expert died instantly.
Deadly conditions
This week in the Swiss resort of Verbier, a 23-year-old man was killed while boarding off-piste.
And in a separate incident, a Swiss woman was swept down the mountainside while out walking with her husband. Luckily she was dug out by the rescue services.
In Val D'Isere, in France, people have been told to stay inside, because of fears that the large amounts of snow on the roofs could slide off and bury people.
Earlier this season, a British skier died in an avalanche in Val D'Isere.
It is now believed at least 10 people have died across the Alps in recent weeks.
Basic safety
"There has been a huge amount of snow all over the Alps this month and although it may be good for skiing, it makes the mountains incredibly dangerous," Fiona Sweetman from The Ski Club of Great Britain told BBC News Online.
Anyone venturing away from the marked runs should take an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and a probe.
Most importantly, they should also know how to use them.
There has been a huge rise in recent years in the numbers of people skiing outside the marked runs, as the improvement in equipment makes it easier for less competent skiers to go into deep snow. Many, though, are unaware of basic safety precautions.
"No-one should ski in closed areas and everyone should obey the safety advice," says Cate Langmuir, the editor of The Good Ski Guide.
"It is superb to ski in fresh snow, but the mountain environment is an extremely dangerous one in these times of unprecedented snowfalls."
Great skiing
 Everyone should obey safety advice in the Alps |
If you do obey the rules, though, the skiing is excellent.
I was in the Austrian resorts of Zell am See and Saalbach-Hinterglemm this week and conditions were superb.
"We have wonderful skiing at the moment," says Wolfgang Breitfuss, the director of Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
"We will not open a run unless it is safe, so as long as you obey the rules you will be fine."
I can certainly vouch for that, as the snow conditions are far and away the best of the season and Austria is one of the best places to be.
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There has been a huge amount of snow...and although it may be good for skiing, it makes the mountains incredibly dangerous 
