Rescue teams were scrambled after reports of the missing skiers. Smaller helicopters were used to lessen the risk of further avalanches THIERRY PRONESTI/EPAA British man was among four skiers killed in the Italian Alps when a massive avalanche swept them 300 yards down an off-piste slope and buried them under six feet of snow. The skier, named by Italian police as Matt Ziegler, 43, died on Sunday in Courmayeur, near the French border, alongside a woman from New Zealand and two French skiers. “After days of snow fall this was a big avalanche and it caught all four of them in a narrow channel where they were skiing, so they stood no chance,” Paolo Comune, head of the local Alpine rescue team, said. At ski resorts elsewhere in the Italian Alps at least three other skiers perished in avalanches caused by heavy snow fall at the weekend.…

Source: The Times February 04, 2019 17:03 UTC