Crevasses have been opening up and snow bridges breaking, causing more than one person to fall into the depths of the Valley Blanche. One 68 year old Frenchman on an outing with friends fell 30m and did not survive the fall. At 1:00pm there was a huge serac fall (300m wide) on the east face of the Mt Blanc de Tacul which stopped close to the Point Lachenal just a couple meters above the classic Vallée Blanche itinerary. Luckily nobody was in its fatal trajectory. Mid afternoon, there were the two avalanches at Brevent and Flegere which crossed the pistes. An English woman on the Sources piste on Brevent was hospitalized due to back injuries. The Combe Lachenal avalanche in Flegere crossed the piste where fortunately there were no skiers. A man finishing a guided tour down the Vallée Blanche succumbed to a heart attack on his way up the stairs to the bubble lift and the Montenvers train station. Although there are many similar cases throughout the year due to people underestimating the effort of climbing 200m of stairs at almost 2000m of altitude it is rare that someone fit enough to ski the Vallée Blanche dies of a heart attack after leaving the glacier.
