Half term has brought chaos to ski resorts around Europe, as video footage shows massive queues forming at lift stations.
One social media video shows a large group of people gathered around the ski lifts in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, with the person who shared it claiming they waited one hour in a queue.
Separate footage from the Cauterets ski resort in France shows a seemingly never-ending winding queue up the mountain with hundreds waiting to ski.
Although the increasing number of alpinists descending on the slopes is partly to do with the school holidays, avalanche warnings have also wrecked havoc across ski resorts, causing delays and disruptions.
Currently, parts of Switzerland and France have a 5/5 risk of avalanche warning - the maximum level, very rarely issued.
More videos taken at popular ski destination St. Anton in Austria show massive crowds waiting at the Nassereinbahn cable car, due to delays caused by avalanche danger with a warning set at a level 4.
This comes as Europe’s avalanche crisis is escalating, with 86 people including at least four Brits killed this season as severe snowfall and unstable mountain conditions have hit the region.
France has recorded the highest toll so far with 25 deaths, followed by Italy with 21 and Austria with 14, while Switzerland has lost nine and Spain eight.
Slovakia reported four deaths and Slovenia three, with a single death in Andorra.
One social media video shows a large group of people gathered around the ski lifts in Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Footage from the Cauterets ski resort in France shows a seemingly never-ending winding queue up the mountain with hundreds waiting to ski
Footage from the Cauterets ski resort in France shows a seemingly never-ending winding queue up the mountain with hundreds waiting to ski
The vast majority of victims were caught in wind slab avalanches or collapses linked to persistent weak layers buried deep within the snow, often triggered after fresh downfalls.
Most were skiing off piste or travelling in backcountry terrain, with others killed while mountaineering, climbing or hiking.
At least four Brits have been killed by avalanches this season, with the latest tragedy taking place on Tuesday, when a British man died in the Alps after an avalanche hit a group of five off-piste skiers and their guide near a French resort.
The slide struck the Côte Fine couloir in La Grave on Tuesday morning.
Two skiers were found in cardiorespiratory arrest and later pronounced dead, according to Marion Lozac'Hmeur, Public Prosecutor of Gap.
One man, born in 1987, was Polish. The other, born in 1989, was a British national originally from Poland who lived in Switzerland.
The deaths come just days after two other British skiers as well as a French national were killed in an avalanche in the upmarket French Alpine resort of Val d’Isere on Friday.
Footage from St.Anton showed people waiting due to delays caused by avalanche warnings
Videos taken at popular ski destination St. Anton in Austria show massive crowds waiting at the Nassereinbahn cable car
Crowds have taken over ski resorts due to the school holidays
Two skiers also died over the weekend after being buried in the snow following an off-trail avalanche near the Italian resort of Courmayeur
The Brits were named as Stuart Leslie, 46, and 51-year-old Shaun Overy.
Emergency services responded quickly but could not save their lives, a resort official said, noting that all of the victims had avalanche transceivers.
Two skiers also died over the weekend after being buried in the snow following an off-trail avalanche in Italy, close to the borders with France and Switzerland.
At least three skiers were caught up in Sunday morning's avalanche on the Mont Blanc massif.
The tragedy occurred in the Couloir Vesses, a well-known freeride route in Courmayeur, in upper Val Veny, according to Italy's Alpine Rescue.
A record 13 backcountry skiers, climbers and hikers died in the Italian mountains during the first week of February, Alpine Rescue reported last Monday, including 10 in avalanches triggered by an exceptionally unstable snowpack.
The Rochemolles section of Bardonecchia was evacuated due to heavy snowfall
And last month, an Englishman, believed to be in his 50s was reportedly amongst six skiers killed in avalanches over the weekend of the 11th, after skiing off-piste at the La Plagne resort in south-eastern France.
Rescue teams received an avalanche alert at 1.57pm on Sunday and immediately went to the site, the resort said.
The man was located after 50 minutes buried under eight feet of snow, but could not be revived.
Beginning on Monday of this week, severe snowfall across Switzerland and parts of northern Italy has created mounting issues.
Tourists were ordered to leave parts of the Italian and Swiss Alps after extreme snowfall and increasing avalanche risks forced authorities to evacuate villages and shut down entire areas.
Regional media reported that up to 40 centimetres of fresh snow has fallen, significantly increasing the danger of avalanches.
The situation was especially serious in Italy’s Piedmont region, leading the regional government to put out a municipal decree ordering the prompt evacuation of Rochemolles, a tourism dependent town.
