Police in southwest Switzerland's Wallis canton said the avalanche took place on January 13 at an altitude of around 2,360 metres (8,628 feet) in an off-piste area of Six Noir, above the village of Ovronnaz.

Three ski tourists were coming down the east face when the avalanche occurred, sweeping one of the group away.

The other two alerted the rescue services and located the missing man via avalanche transceivers, Wallis police said, adding that two rescue helicopters were dispatched.

"The victim, freed from the snow and resuscitated at the scene, was airlifted to the hospital in Sion," the police statement said.

"During the night of January 19-20, 2026, the victim died from his severe injuries. He was a 53-year-old Irish national."

Avalanches have killed several people over the last 10 days in the Wallis region.

A January 15 avalanche at Pointe de Chemo killed two Swiss men aged 42 and 41.

An avalanche east of Mont Carre on January 14 killed a 42-year-old Frenchman who was skiing off-piste.

And Swiss snowboarder Ueli Kestenholz, 50, who won the bronze medal in the men's giant slalom at the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics, died in an avalanche in the Lotschental area of Wallis on January 11.

Elsewhere in Switzerland, a German skier was killed in a January 16 avalanche in the Graubunden region.

Three avalanches meanwhile killed eight skiers in the Austrian Alps on Saturday.