Mountain rescue services urged skiers to exercise great caution in the northern French Alps, where the risk of avalanches was estimated at level four on a scale of five yesterday.
Heavy snowfall has hit the region since Monday. Two skiers were swept away and killed at the Arcs station, where they were skiing off-piste with a guide.
The victims were equipped with avalanche beacons to send out digital signals, but rescuers could not reach them quickly enough.
In the Deux-Alpes station, a ski patroller was carried away by an avalanche that he triggered off-piste.
Several minutes later, a snow slide nearby at the same station buried another skier.
He was promptly rescued but died of injuries at the hospital, police said. Another skier was killed in the Menuires station.