Skier rescued alive from 30m Vallee Blanche crevasse

A snowHead

Details are emerging of a remarkable survival and rescue on the Vallee Blanche glacier above Chamonix, after a skier fell into a crevasse last Friday (apparently in the early afternoon). The French high-mountain police were alerted at about 6pm, when the skier failed to return. They flew over the glacier, but could not initiate a full rescue operation with a team of piste patrollers until Saturday. After spotting his tracks they pulled him 30m out of what he may have assumed would be his final resting place. He was reported to be in a "healthy" state, despite the experience.

This report (in French) from Le Dauphine

The man has not been named, and his nationality is unknown. It is not clear whether he was skiing in company or with a guide.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The report suggests that he was actually alone, because the alert to the rescue services was well after skiers would normally get off the mountain.

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At least his companions knew where he'd gone and reported his failure to return.

It puzzles me why some people who probably wouldn't dream of going walking at home, say in the moutains of Scotland or the Brecon Beacons without making sure someone knew where they were going and what time they were due back will take off solo on a pair of skis without such common sense precautions.

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If he was on his own then that ranks as unbelievable stupidity and would have been a nomination for the Darwin Award had he not been found alive and well.

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Officially, as far as I know and based on this link ...

http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/pages/excursions_aiguille_site_gb_1.html

... the Compagnie du Mont Blanc places no restrictions on skiers heading down the Vallee Blanche without guides (or even skiing it alone). The approach is laissez-faire, with strong guidance not to do it.

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Doesn't bear thinking about does it - ending up somewhere like that, initially alive and well but totally stranded, with no means of summoning help and then realising not a soul in the world knows where you might be or would miss you for days. Shocked

After all it is free

30m down? wow

what a horrible experience that would have been

On the three occasions I've skied it I've seen quite few people skiing it without a guide. In fact on the last occasion a couple of people were quite clearly following us because they didn't have a clue where they were going - our guide said this is quite a common occurrence. I've also seen people skiing it solo. I've also seen plenty of people skiing the glacier off the back of the Grand Montets in Chamonix and also the Grand Desert in Verbier (off the back of Mont Fort) solo. There was a superb example last Sunday of a set of punters going off the back of Mont Fort in sketchy vis, no guide, all in a power snowplough. Natural selection lives it would appear

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30mtrs...that could have been dangerous...

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Very lucky guy.

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He might have been found in 2000 years time, with archeologists examining his style of ski clothing. Or maybe sooner, if the glaciers melt as fast as some are predicting. Skullie

You know it makes sense.

Mosha Marc, He fell into a 30m crevasse, it didn't say how far he fell, i have a feeling if he had fell 30m down onto solid ice he'd have been a little messed up.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

pam w, our guide suggested that it was sooner than that anyway - a few decades - which I suppose is heavily dependant on where you fall. He said there was a grille in front of the hydro station fed by the meltwater, to filter out mangled bodies and other detritus. He said bodies turned up every now and then. This was in the lift on the way up. I'm not sure of the truth of it - I sensed it was a way of deterring anyone who might not have been up to it, while they still had the chance to back out.

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SMALLZOOKEEPER, this is the relevant quote from the Daupine report:

A snowHead

Smallzookeeper, from our correspondant:

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Mosha Marc, Laughing

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Other more popular news stories - e.g. "Toilet charge on Ryanair" - are available

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I reckon a guy who could fall 30m into a crevasse and live could pretty much withstand anything, there is always the possibility that he may have rolled off a few terraces on his way to the bottom and thus breaking his fall each time. I remember doing my Crevasse rescue courses and spending alot of time in crevasses where a 30m (15m when used) rope would be employed. We were maximum 8-10m deep. It was the most terrifying place i've ever been, the freezing temperature and the ice was by far the hardest substance i have ever been up against. I honestly since spend as little time as i can on the glacier. Karma being what it is, i've been a bad boy earlier in my life.

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David Goldsmith, You do seem to be knocking out a fair bit of work for this site of recent times.

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Maybe he was only 1m down and they pulled him out sideways with a 30m rope. Wink

After all it is free

SMALLZOOKEEPER, I think this story's amazing - hopefully the French media are on to it. The guy's story will be quite a read. I wonder what he thought his survival chances were?

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While further news of this rescue is awaited from Cham, here's some crevasse news from the emerald isle:

Gaping crevasse that is flat as pavement

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SMALLZOOKEEPER, I doubt many people ski with a rope over 30m, of course if he was uninjured he could conceivably prussic out. But then 30m is a long way I guess there might have been snow bridges he fell through inside the crevasse. I wonder if it was the one we were climbing in in the summer that was about that big although I'm amazed it could ever properly cover over.

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Blah, blah, blah, crevasses, very dangerous, without a guide, blah, blah, blah.

The Vallee Blanche is in not in anyway a remotely hard ski. I'd say if you can comfortably ski red you can do it. There is only 1 section where potential difficulties should arise. It gets massively overhyped because it's both glaciated & the longest lift served ski run in the world. On a clear day a competant skier could happily solo it following the main motorway/piste type line. Thousands of people do this every year with not a bother on them. Most commonly when accidents happen in the area they either happend to people that aren't familiar with it but try & find fresh untracked snow through often dangerous terrain. Or they're when the really good local skiers push the boat out too far & end up in the poo-poo. People extremely rarely get in the poo-poo on the regular tourist route. A cynical view would be that it's the single most profitable thing for the Chamonix guides so they continue to BIG UP it's reputation. Make no mistakes as a red skier it's a great thing to do & will take you through some of the most beautiful skiable terrain in the world but it's not really that dangerous or hard.

You know it makes sense.

frank4short, "the longest lift served ski run in the world" is it? The Dachstein to Obertraun tour in Austria is 25kms and around 2000 vertical. Not actually done either but hope to do the Dachstein ski in next couple of weeks. http://www.planai.at/dachstein/winter_e_1442_ENG_HTML.htm Lots of other tours on here as well.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

frank4short, Glaciers, no matter how familiar you are with them . . . and it takes a lifetime to acquire even a nodding acquaintance . . . are lethal places. The Vallee Blanche may not require more than moderate skiing skill but it does require decent fitness and without the hard work and constant attention by the guides et al, you would be an idiot to even contemplate it. I don;t plan on going near it, I had my fill of glaciers in my youth and have better places to scare myself sh!tless where the things that may kill me are at least within my own control.

If you're dumb enough to dismiss the risk of skiing on a glacier . . . then by all means go . . . with luck or nothing else it will alleviate the risk of me inadvertently reading you spouting from your anus again.

Jeez rolling eyes

how did knob-cheese become sentient ?

A snowHead

Masque, seriously??? WTF

At some point this season I will ride off piste on a glacier without a guide (in fact I already have once) fancy calling me dumb too?

A snowHead

Masque, I have 5 seasons in Chamonix under my belt, with extensive skiing & mountaineering experience there. Odds are i've skied the vallee blanche or variants thereof probably more times than you've been on skis. In all of that time i never heard of someone falling in a crevasse, that was skiing the vallee blanche taht had enough cop on to stay in the obvious line & kept their skis/board on at all times. I saw a lot of people freaking out on the trickier section & on the arete. The only time i ever saw someone fall in a crevasse, & i have seen someone fall in a crevasse, was when as i said they went out of their way to get fresh snow or they were on one of the harder more precarious ways down off the midi. The other exception to this is snowboarders taking their boards off on the flater sections to walk.

So before you start spouting your mouth off about my intelligence or what comes out of my mouth it would do you well to ask how i came about my opinions first. As the only person it reflects poorly on is yourself.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

frank4short, so let's see . . .

As long as you follow the "piste line" you'll be fine. Of course, this a stable and constant path, on a glacier rolling eyes

Then of course, absolutely everyone that's capable of staying upright in skis for a few Km is bright enough to follow the tourist route.
Oh, and lest we forget, The Sun always Shines on Chamonix (sung to the tune of . . .)
And lastly, absolutely NO-ONE is EVER tempted to ski off a line and into some fresh.

You may have lots of experience . . . doesn't make you less a jerk when it comes to telling people that skiing on a glacier without a local guide is "not really that dangerous"

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Agree with frank4short here, there are numerous glaciers where you can ski without a guide, what about all the summer skiing, what's that on!!

Even in La Grave the glacier piste is clearly marked and you do not need a guide!*
When going away from the main glacier piste to do some of the "routes" then we wear harnesses, for saftey yes, but then on some routes you need to rapelle.

Problems happen when people venture off the glacier piste in the search for fresh or are following tracks of people who know where they are going.

*Though if carrying on down into LG from Deux Alpes might be advisable, but like the Vallee Blanche the main Vallons route down is fairly obvious.

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I've seen a Norwegian TeleM tip off a snow-bridge into a crevasse down Envers and was just dragged out...no harm, no damage, and not a big fall and no big rescue... just a body belay, IIRC, and good banter in the bar later.

It is like all things, fall right and kind and you can walk away...fall badly and other things kick in and you can die...

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I have a specific experience on the Vallee Blanche, which I've part-recounted on here before:

Back in the 1970s I skied it in January (when it's often closed) with a group of friends led by a guide. We were in the tracks of the guide much of the time, because the snow was fresh. Skiing in his tracks provided more speed on the flats. One of my friends fell in front of me. I diverted to avoid him, into the deeper snow, plunged in speed and cart-wheeled. The tail of one of the short skis I was on (this was the era of compact skis - about 170cm) hit me in the head. I was dazed, and gushing blood. The guide had a bandage and stopped the bleeding.

I carried on, but wasn't 100% alert. On entering the Mer de Glace I missed a turn and skied into a crevasse. It wasn't an open crevasse, but was about 3m deep with a snow-bridge drifted across it. I'll never forget crashing on to that snow and not bursting through it.

The others helped pull me out.

Would I ski the Vallee Blanche without a guide? Given that experience, probably not. Masque is correct. The operators of the mountain (perhaps it's not permissible in French law anyway) don't make it compulsory that you have a guide, but they strongly recommend it.

As I discovered, it was very good to be with a professional who had a well-stocked first-aid kit, just as an example.

The guy who is the subject of this thread had an accident, and considerable resources were deployed (at risk) to save and rescue him. If he'd been in an unguided group similar resources would have been needed (locating him would have been the only easier aspect).

I'd recommend skiing the Vallee Blanche with a guide.

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I'd agree with David, I have 10 seasons in Chamonix under my belt, with extensive skiing & mountaineering experience there. I wouldn't encourage anyone who could ski a red run to take there kit up the ADM and fend for themselves over what can seem like easy skiing (which it is). The terrain, the reading of it and the possible inclement weather are the issue. Extensive experience means yes you may have the tools to do it. Skiing a red run IMO is not the best qualification for such terrain.

After all it is free

David Goldsmith wrote:

No helmet - bandage. It was about 32 years ago. Had a head like an Egyptian mummy when I skied into Chamonix.

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I was thinking, perhaps I was a little jet-lagged, tired, pizzed and as a result my response to frank4short as a new contributor was a little too irascible . . not very welcoming at best . . . and at worst, downright offensive. Embarassed

But . . doncha luv that codicil . . . NO. His comment is a perfect example of familiarity breeding contempt and an encouragement to people with adequate physical skills to take on terrain that requires cognitive skills and experience to survive on.

The local authorities who have responsibility for glacier skiing expend enormous resources to create a relatively safe environment for us punters and that environment is subject to ideal conditions. The moment that those conditions deteriorate toward low visibility, bad weather or even just delayed by the slowest member of the group we are already outside the parameters set by the people who's responsibility it is to recover your corpse.

I'm not sorry frank4short you've either become complacent with familiarity or you're just a jerk. Either way people should not be skiing under your advice. If you've an axe to grind about the "Chamonix guides" then take it to the appropriate authorities and don't tell the average red run punter to just follow the piste markers.

Help!!

Skier rescued alive from 30m Vallee Blanche crevasse

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