Posted on 05/20/2013 7:07:05 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The man, who has yet to be named, fell to his death on the Mont Blanc range after being stranded on a glacial ridge close to the Aiguille du Midi mountain.
He had been out with another skier when they were caught in a storm as they descended the challenging Vallee Blanche, 12,460ft (3,800 metres) above the resort of Chamonix.
The two were left trapped on the peak when their cable car broke down, and with bad weather closing in, high winds and blizzards forced them to abandon their intended descent.
The man's companion managed to get to the lift station, guided by a member of staff, but the second lost his footing and fell 1,500 metres down the north face of the cliff at around 9pm.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibtimes.co.uk ...
***It’s only the last 100 feet that kills you..***
Actually it is not the fall that kills you. It is that sudden stop.
****Quite probably he bounced much of the way.****
****TILT!****
Irresponsible parenting.
LOL!
So the way I understand it, the men abandoned a cable car, their one source of shelter on the mountain, to go try their luck in a storm with 5000 ft cliffs nearby....
How sad for him, his family, and friends. Mother nature is relentless.
He was said to have survived by "swimming" through snow and ice as it collapsed down the face of one of Mont Blanc's highest peaks.
I’ve been skiing in that area and stayed in Chamonix (Aspen Village will remnind you of the village of Chamonix). And with the opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel it is easily accessible from Geneva, Switzerland (about an hours drive).
Yikes. RIP.
I seem to remember that in the 60’s Swiss skiing was iffy when Easter fell late in the year.
You would think with all of the globull warming going on that he would be hiking, not skiing this time of year. /S
o/~ I believe I can fly... o/~
“5,000 feet. Is that some kind of a record?”
No, but it’s better than average. [rimshot]
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