British man, 27, killed by avalanche in French Alps
A British man has died after he was buried by an avalanche at a ski resort in the French Alps, local officials have said.
The man, 27, was near the roadside at the Val Thorens resort when he was swept up and carried 15 metres (50ft) by snow on Thursday morning, a local prosecutor said.
The Briton, who has not yet been named, had already gone into cardiac arrest when police officers arrived at the scene to pull him out of the snow.
He was taken to a hospital in Grenoble, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region, where he died later that evening.
Heavy snow blocks Alpine resorts in Switzerland and France
His family is being supported by local services, the prosecutor added, and an investigation into the incident has been launched.
A spokesperson for the UK's foreign office said: "We supporting the family of a British man who died in France and are in contact with the local authorities."
Heavy snow has hit the Alps in recent days, with thousands of homes in the Savoie region of eastern France left without power.
On Thursday, road and rail routes were cut off into the resort of Zermatt in the southern canton of Valais and tourists and residents were told to stay indoors in the French resort of Tignes.
Tignes Mayor Serge Revial said there was a high risk of avalanches and that a decision had to be made "to protect people".
South of Zermatt, power outages were reported in 37 of the 74 municipalities in the Aosta Valley in north-west Italy, and a bridge collapsed in Biella in nearby Piedmont.
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Randall, the Utah tourism director, said her office has only seen hints of that downturn. At Salt Lake City International Airport, for example, industry sources show bookings from Canada to the U.S. have begun to slow, according to an airport spokesperson. Still, last week the airport added service by WestJet, a Canadian carrier, offering direct flights to and from Edmonton, Alberta, in the summer. 'We've been able to hear a handful of sentiments from Canadians, and that handful isn't positive. They're either delaying or not coming,' Randall said. 'But again, it's a handful.' Still, Randall acknowledged that even a handful of cancellations can add up, especially for Utah's small-business owners. 'Those small mom-and-pop guides and outfitters or bed and breakfasts,' Randall said. 'Any type of economic impact that happens always hits them first.' It's already bludgeoning Moab Springs Ranch, Edwards said. A big, red, maple-leaf flag flies outside the historic ranch house-turned-front desk. Pretty soon, he said, it will be the only sign of Canada on his property. An oasis among the red rocks, Moab Springs Ranch sits where Moab's first non-Native settler, Black frontiersman William Grandstaff, homesteaded in the late 1880s. Located just south of Arches National Park, it's now a collection of 20 well-appointed bungalows and townhouses nestled among two springs. Edwards humblebrags that the ranch has been TripAdvisor's No. 1 Traveler's Choice hotel for Moab for the past five years. 'We're independent. We're not part of a national chain, or anything like that,' Edwards said. 'So, I think we drive the big boys crazy because we're sitting in that number one position all the time.' Due to the ranch's small size and the outsized number of American tourists who visit Utah, Edwards said foreign tourists make up a small fraction of his guests. In an average year, he said, international tourists comprise less than 10% of guests at the ranch. Canadians account for about 2% of his business. Still, his profit margins also are not more than 8%. So, losing that clientele could be crippling. And Edwards said his booking numbers show that's a real possibility. Year to date, bookings are down $170,000, he said. Foreigners account for 44% of cancellations. And in August, Edwards doesn't show a single booking from Canada. 'If you're treading water and your nostrils are just above water, 5% can be a big deal,' Edwards said. 'So those of us who operate on thin margins are hurting from that.' The rub, he said, is that international bookings were just bouncing back from the post-COVID lag. Plus, as was the case in 2020, Americans are not making up the slack, especially when it comes to trips to National Parks. The U.S. Travel Association reported declines in National Park trips among Americans' otherwise consistent travel patterns. With uncertainty over staffing at National Parks amid Department of Government Efficiency cuts, some visitors and park advocate groups have voiced concern that conditions at the parks will falter, in ways such as overflowing trash cans, bare toilet paper rolls and reduced programming. 'People don't know if the park is going to be open, if toilets are going to be overflowing,' Edwards said. 'The National Park Service is getting just hammered and people are rightfully concerned.' When the parks faced a similar scenario in 2020 and during a government shutdown in 2023, Edwards said state leaders helped alleviate much of the uncertainty by guaranteeing they would keep the state's Mighty 5 parks open and operating mostly as usual. Legislators have made no such promises to cover the gaps made by federal cuts. 'There's been crickets. Nothing. And it's because they don't want to seem disloyal to the current administration,' Edwards said. 'There's a lack of understanding at our state level of how big an industry tourism is.' Even if the state stepped up and provided some sureties, Hunt indicated the damage has already been done. She and her husband canceled a trip to New Mexico planned for later this year and will be going to Europe instead. And her next birthday trip? Maybe she'll look at Guatemala instead of St. George. She doesn't know when, or if she will be back to the U.S. If it's up to her husband, it won't be in the next four years. 'What it comes down to is just kind of lost trust in the States at the moment,' she said. 'And losing trust takes over twice as long to regain back.' This story was produced by The Salt Lake Tribune and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
