Six people, including two mountain guides and four tourists, have died in an avalanche in the French Alps on Sunday 9 April 2023. Another tourist is reported to have received minor injuries, while eight more were swept downslope by the avalanche but escaped unscathed. The event happened on the Armancette Glacier, in the Haute-Savoie Department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, at around mid-day. The cause of the event is unclear at this time, and it is understood that no avalanche-warning was in place at the time.
An avalanche at the Armancette Glacier, near Mont Blanc in south-eastern France, which killed six people on Sunday 9 April 2023. BBC.
Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.
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