Worker Survives Avalanche Cardiac Arrest at Ordino Arcalís Ski Resort

A worker at the Ordino Arcalís ski resort suffered a cardiac arrest after being buried by an avalanche in the Feixans area on Sunday morning and was airlifted to Hospital de Meritxell, where he has since stabilised in the ICU.

The incident occurred around 11am in a north-facing zone within the skiable domain, near the Balma piste—a diagonal often used for off-piste skiing. The man, an experienced Andorran employee responsible for snow cannons, was quickly located by piste staff and a group of young skiers who began digging him out. Resort emergency teams responded within six minutes, extracting him from the snow and performing on-site resuscitation before his helicopter evacuation while unconscious.

The rescue operation lasted about 45 minutes and involved four personnel: two mountain rescue team members, a dog handler, and a nurse. Police authorities remain involved in monitoring the case. No other injuries occurred, and the avalanche did not disrupt public pistes or pose risks to skiers on a busy day.

The event unfolded amid high avalanche risk, rated 4 out of 5 at high elevations due to wind slabs in northern sectors, recent heavy snowfall adding over half a metre of new snow, and rising temperatures destabilising the snowpack. This season's elevated dangers stem from insufficient freezing in lower December layers.

It marks the latest in a series of incidents at Arcalís. On 29 November, a 32-year-old Spanish backcountry skier died near Estany de les Abelletes after being caught in a 1,500-cubic-metre slab avalanche at 2,675 metres. Last weekend, local cyclist Ares Masip triggered and was swept down by an avalanche at Hortell peak with her dog, escaping with a scare and sharing footage online as a cautionary lesson.

The swift response underscores recent training efforts, including an avalanche drill days earlier involving 80 professionals to test emergency coordination.