Police in Vorarlberg, Austria's westernmost province, said they had to call off the search for another missing German skier in the group, age 28, because of heavy snow and the risk of avalanches.

Police said the four friends had apparently skied onto a trail that was closed. Although they had avalanche protection equipment and deployed airbags, the victims were buried by the avalanche and suffered multiple injuries. They were located with the help of mobile tracking.

In France, the Haute-Savoie region's high mountain gendarmerie said the two ski patrollers were killed Sunday morning in Morillon before ski slopes were opened to the public. Officers were investigating the scene to determine the cause of the rare accident.

Ski patrollers are in charge of preventing potential dangers to skiers, notably by triggering controlled avalanches with powerful explosive charges.

Authorities in southern Germany and Austria had used a break in the weather to clear heavy loads of snow from roofs and roads, but snow set in again on Saturday night.

In the Bavarian town of Kempten, local authorities closed 11 sports halls until Tuesday as a precaution, fearing that the weight of snow on their roofs was posing a danger, the German news agency DPA reported.

Trains between the German cities of Munich and Lindau were travelling more slowly than usual because of a risk of snow-laden trees falling onto the tracks.

The small Alpine resort of Balderschwang on Germany's border with Austria was cut off on Sunday after the pass leading to it was closed for fear of avalanches.