A 53-year-old skier was found dead inside a mountain cable car by the horrified driver after arriving at its base.
The tourist is believed to have boarded the lift at the Val Cenis ski resort in Savoie, southeastern France, by himself on the afternoon of January 6.
But when the gondola reached the mountain peak he was unconscious.
The gondola operator quickly alerted two ski patrollers at the resort who attempted to resuscitate the man using a defibrillator.
Despite the rapid response from emergency services and local police, the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
It is believed the holidaymaker suffered a heart attack after getting onto the lift.
On the same day, tragedy struck at the nearby Les Menuires resort in Savoie.
A Spanish skier was found unconscious against a rock in an unmarked skiing area.
It comes days after two people were left injured in a horror crash after a cable car slammed into a station barrier in Italy.
The incident left around a hundred others stranded at high altitude in the mountains in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola region of Piedmont.
According to local reports the crash took place at the Monte Moro mountain station of Macugnaga cable car, roughly 2,800 meters above sea level.
It is believed the crash occurred because the cabin arrived at the station too quickly.
Emergency crews including fire fighters and police evacuated around 100 people, including children from the area.
The injured were immediately treated by a doctor who happened to be in the area, before an air ambulance transported the pair to hospital for treatment.
And just a week earlier, a tourist died on a ski lift in Montenegro after the chair suddenly came loose and slid 230ft backwards, smashing into the seat behind.
The 34-year-old German man fell from the lift and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Around 80 skiers and snowboarders were left dangling from the chairs of the lift as emergency crews jumped to action.
The Civil Guard confirmed the accident occurred when a chairlift line “fell off” due to a problem with the cable which lost tension.
The fatal accident happened at the Savin Kuk resort, near the mountain town of Žabljak.
Authorities said a full technical examination of the lift would be carried out.
