Search-and-rescue operations had been complicated by poor weather conditions on Sunday, after rescuers found the first victim of the avalanche, another woman from the same group.

News reports identified the two victims as 25-year-old Swedes who had been skiing off-piste in a deep gully in the Val Veny with two other friends, who survived.

The pair were part of a group of four skiing off-piste in a deep gully in the Val Veny when the avalanche occurred around lunchtime.

Gianluca Marra, head of the Valle d’Aosta Alpine Rescue Courmayeur station, told news outlets that rain and temperature changes were decisive factors in triggering the avalanche.

While skiing in the gully where avalanche occurred isn’t forbidden, he said, it’s not recommended, as “it’s very steep and there are objective dangers.”

In February 2019, another group of four skiers was hit by an avalanche on the same slope and killed, according to Skytg24.