Yesterday, January 28, a family of Alsatian tourists – husband, wife and two children – went for a snowshoeing trip in the Val d’Isere ski resort. At this time, an avalanche descended there. The mother and two children were saved, and the father was carried away by the shaft of snow.
More than a hundred people took part in the search for the missing person – rescuers, gendarmes, guides, ski instructors. Due to bad weather conditions, the helicopter of the high-altitude gendarmerie could not take off. I had to use ground transportation.
The dogs could not find the missing person.
Rescuers used the Wolfhound system, a device for detecting mobile phones, and found the place where the tourist was. Usually Wolfhound is used to search for people lost in the forest; for work in an avalanche, the system was used for the first time.
The man was at a depth of 2.5 meters, under tons of snow. He spent 2 hours 40 minutes there. He survived, was conscious, but with a fractured hip. Rescuers called it a miracle, since the chances of surviving more than 20 minutes in an avalanche are usually slim.
“It was covered by a tree,” explains the gendarme. “It prevented the falling snow from crushing the man. The snow surrounded him, but an air pocket remained.”
The legendary K2 peak was first conquered in winter. It was made by climbers from Nepal:
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