'Black week' for the Alps as 10 people die in eight days Two experienced French skiers - friends aged 77 and 55 - died in an avalanche in the Queyras mountain range while skiing off-piste on Saturday. The husband of the 55-year-old victim only survived by grabbing ahold of a tree. The same day, on Mont Blanc, Sébastien Thomas, a security official for the Alps, died during a training program, after falling into a ravine covered in snow. The accidents occurred after the Hautes-Alpes prefecture issued a warning to proceed with "extreme caution" due to high risk of avalanches in certain mountain ranges. The area is known for the fragility of its snow cloak. About 40 centimetres of fresh snow have accumulated in the last few days," said local official, Stéphane Bonzon, speaking to French media. On Tuesday four hikers disappeared following an avalanche in Crévoux, in the Hauges-Alpes, and on Wednsday two off-piste skiers died from another avalanche in Tignes, in the Savoie region. A skier died on Friday in Crevoux when he hit a tree trunk. 22 people have died in France in avalanches since the start of the winter.