The 47-year-old man had been skiing with his wife and a guide in the Vallee Blanche close to Mont Blanc.

The party were descending by a normal route when the 15m wide avalanche was triggered by blocks of falling ice, Chamonix rescue services said.

A nearby group was able to pull the woman and guide from the snow, but the man was deeply buried.

Rescue workers were able to pinpoint the man by signals from a radio transmitter he was carrying as a safety device.

But the man's heart had stopped by the time he was rescued, and he never regained consciousness.

His wife and the guide suffered only minor injuries.