A volunteer mountain rescuer dies in the Mont Blanc massif

Once again tragedy has struck on the high-mountain routes of the Mont Blanc Massif with news of the death of two local alpinists on Wednesday.

Boris Pouilly, aged 37, was a volunteer mountain rescuer who lived in the Brizon area and together with a 28 year old alpinist friend from Annemasse, the pair had been attacking the long Droites traverse in the Talefre glacier bowl, heading towards the Tour des Courtes at 3600m.

There were no witnesses to the event, but PGHM rescuers were alerted by the pilot of a light aircraft from Megeve who was flying over the area and spotted the bodies. Rescuers arrived on the scene and could only speculate on the cause of death. It seems the pair found themselves on a patch of unstable snow, caused a small avalanche and then fell to their deaths in the rocks.

Boris Pouilly, a father of three children, was described by the leader of the mountain rescue team he volunteered for as 'far from being a beginner' and he was studying to be a mid-mountain guide.