French Alps climbers died after falling from mountainside, investigators say

Accident on Neige Cordier peak in Hautes-Alpes region that killed six may have been result of human error Six climbers have died in an accident in the Alps in one of the worst mountain tragedies in France in recent years. The apparently experienced mountaineers, climbing in two groups in what were described as “ideal conditions”, are thought to have become unattached from the mountain and fallen into a steep pass 200 metres (656 feet) below to their deaths. Their bodies lay on the mountain for around 24 hours before being found by an English hiker, following a similar route, who made the macabre discovery on Sunday morning. The hiker immediately called a mountain rescue team to report finding the bodies at an altitude of 2,700 metres on the Neige Cordier peak, three miles (5km) from the village of Villar-d’Arène in the Hautes-Alpes region. The spot, in the Massif Ecrin mountain range, just south east of Grenoble in the southern French Alps, is popular with climbers and is not considered by mountaineering experts as especially dangerous. French police have launched an investigation into the accident. The sky was clear and locals say conditions could not have been better when the six French mountaineers – two men and three women aged between 42 and 64 and a 16-year-old youth – set off from the Villar-d’Arène area at 6am on Saturday, aiming to climb the 3,614-metre Neige Cordier peak. Police believe the group, equipped with crampons, ice axes and suitable climbing clothing, and making the ascent roped together in two groups of three, had not gone far before tragedy struck.Although they have not established the exact cause, investigators say that at some point on Saturday morning all six fell up to 200 metres into a steep pass that locals said was frequently used by snow walkers and mountaineers. At first it was believed the group had been hit by an avalanche of snow and rocks, but first examinations of the scene suggested human error. “On the face of it there wasn’t an avalanche. They came unattached [from the mountain]. At the moment we don’t know why,” local magistrate Rémy Avon said. He said that the first investigations showed “traces of slippage” in the Plate des Agneaux pass, a steep corridor where the bodies were discovered “halfway up”, and added that the first group appeared to have reached the top of the corridor before

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