Five deaths were reported across the French, Austrian and Swiss Alpine regions over the weekend, according to police reports. In France, two members of a skiing tour died in an avalanche Sunday on Dent Parrachee in the Vanoise massif range. Their deaths come a day after another skier died in an avalanche on the Champsaur-Massiv, dpa reported. With the onset of springtime conditions, authorities warned of a heightened risk of avalanches. A 33-year-old German man was killed by an avalanche on the Matterhorn, in the Swiss Alps. He had been underway with two other mountain climbers near the Hoernli Hut - a shelter on the mountain - when a shelf of snow gave way. He fell over a rocky cliff, reported police in Valais. In Austria's Tirol region, a 53-year-old German woman died when a patch of snow she was walking over gave way. She fell onto a steep slope, facedown into the snow. Police speculate that she was then too exhausted to stand up under her own power.
