Pyrenees Avalanche Season Deadliest in Years with 12 Fatalities

The Pyrenees have recorded one of their deadliest avalanche seasons in years during the 2025-26 winter, with 12 fatalities and 16 injuries reported across the range, according to data from the Association for the Knowledge of Snow and Avalanches (ACNA).

The toll marks a sharp rise from the five deaths in the prior season and is the highest since the 2009-10 campaign, which saw 13 fatalities. In Andorra, two people have died and one suffered injuries in such incidents.

Aina Margalef, a geologist, snow expert, and ACNA accident commission member at Andorra Research and Innovation (AR+I), noted that a comprehensive analysis of the season remains pending. She highlighted that numerous accidents followed brief snowfall periods amid repeated storms, which created wind slabs or persistent weak layers in the snowpack. Persistent weak layers consist of poorly bonded snow strata that can stay unstable for weeks or months. Temperature fluctuations weaken their internal bonds, causing collapses that trigger slides. Wind slabs form as gusts shift snow into dense piles prone to sudden failure under load.

Although spring has arrived, snow lingers at elevation, and Andorra is still producing avalanche risk bulletins—mostly at the lowest level of 1. Margalef stressed that dangers persist as long as snow remains in place.

Europe-wide, the season claimed 149 lives, per the European Avalanche Warning Service (EAWS), more than double the 70 from last winter and exceeding the 87 in 2023-24 and 104 in 2022-23. Italy saw the most deaths at 40, followed by France with 34 and Austria with 33.

Authorities recommend ongoing caution in off-piste terrain until snow fully melts.