Ski Resort Worker Dies from Avalanche Brain Injuries

A 32-year-old worker at Ordino-Arcalís ski resort has died from irreversible brain injuries sustained in a slab avalanche off-piste near the Balma run, following four days in intensive care.

Oriol Navarro Temprado, an Andorran from Ordino who lived in Sant Julià de Lòria with his partner, passed away on Wednesday in the intensive care unit of Nostra Senyora de Meritxell hospital. The Servei Andorrà d'Atenció Sanitària (SAAS) stated he could not recover from the neurological damage caused by prolonged oxygen deprivation during burial. Navarro had worked for nearly a decade with Secnoa on the snow cannon team, earning praise from colleagues as a committed professional, affable colleague, mountain lover and nature enthusiast.

The avalanche occurred around 11:15am on Sunday, January 11, in the Feixans area within the skiable domain but outside marked trails, along a popular diagonal under the telecabina often used by freeriders. Equipped with an ARVA locator, probe and other safety gear, Navarro was skiing the route when the slide hit. A group of skiers behind him spotted the avalanche, located him within about 15 minutes using his device, and started digging. Resort piste crews joined soon after, followed by firefighters, police mountain rescuers, a dog handler and paramedics. Found in cardiorespiratory arrest and buried for roughly 20 minutes, he was resuscitated on site before helicopter evacuation to hospital, with the full response taking under 45 minutes.

Police mountain rescue teams continue investigating why Navarro was in the area during a work shift, whether the north-facing gully required preventive blasting, and the precise trigger. No explosives had been used recently amid low overall snowpack, though wind slabs had accumulated in the gully, which typically channels flows away from pistes. Sources noted the avalanche was natural, not large-scale, and posed no risk to other skiers or resort operations. The incident followed intense snowfall—up to 70cm new snow at high elevations from Friday evening—under level 4 (considerable) avalanche risk on steep northeast-to-southwest aspects above 2,100m, which dropped to level 3 midweek with warming.

Ordino Arcalís and Grandvalira Resorts expressed profound grief, offering condolences to Navarro's family, friends and colleagues while thanking piste teams, emergency services and hospital staff for their rapid response. "Ordino Arcalís and the entire Grandvalira Resorts team deeply regret this loss," the station said in a statement.

A funeral mass for Navarro will take place this Sunday at noon in Ordino's Sant Corneli i Sant Cebrià church, with viewing hours Saturday afternoon at the national funeral home in Escaldes-Engordany.