During the night of Tuesday 4 to Wednesday 5 February 2025, on the high ground above Les Houches and in the Mont Lachat direction, the Chamonix Peloton Gendarmerie High Mountain (PGHM) found the body of a High Mountain Guide, Christophe Bressand, who had resided in the Chamonix valley. It appears that Christophe had been caught in an avalanche a few hours earlier.
At 16:30pm on Tuesday 4 February, a Chamonix PGHM search team was mobilized, after an alert from Christophe's relatives who were concerned when he did not return at the time that he had estimated.
They knew that Christophe had set-out alone, to ski-tour the Mont Lachat area taking in one of the steep couloirs near the Griaz glacier. This was not an unusual activity for Christophe. He had done this many times.
The search took just over 7 hours, when around midnight and at an altitude of about 1400m, the signal from Christophe's avalanche victim detector (DVA) was located. Quickly the team dug into the avalanche debris, only to uncover his lifeless body.
The PGHM team recovered Christophe's body by helicopter to their base in Les Bois.
Christophe Bressand (59) was a very experienced mountain professional. Also, he was the professor of technology at the private college Jeanne d'Arc de Chamonix.
Three deadly avalanches during one week in the Chamonix valley
This is the third death linked to an avalanche in the space of a little over a week in the Chamonix valley, after two other accidents , one on Les Grands Montets, the other on Les Possettes in Le Balme sector.
The most recent avalanche occurred when the avalanche risk estimation displayed a limited risk.
Le Dauphiné (edited)
