The man was trekking on skis with a group of five other skiers who climbed to the summit of Trugberg Mountain (3,933 metres).

When skiing down the southwest face of the mountain as the first one down he triggered an avalanche, 200 metres below the summit, which buried him at around 9.30am, the ATS news agency reported.

The five others searched for the man and found him under 1.2 metres of snow.

Despite efforts to revive him he died on the spot.

Late on Saturday afternoon, a 33-year-old German climber lost his life on the Matterhorn, near Zermatt.

He was with two other climbers who had hiked to the Hörnli hut, at the foot of the northeastern ridge of the famous 4,478-metre peak, Valais cantonal police said.

The climbers were exploring a ridge with a view to climbing the mountain on Sunday when  a sheet of snow loosened and carried one of them 200 metres over a cliff, police said.

The climber died at the site of the accident.

The two other climbers were able to hold on with ice picks.

On Friday, an Austrian skier died from injuries sustained in an avalanche near the Günhornlücke pass, above Fiesch, ATS reported.

He was among a group of seven mountaineering skiers.

The Austrian died from his injuries in hospital, while a second person was slightly injured.