Gendarme killed in training exercise
At 8.20am yesterday (Tuesday) morning a gendarme was killed in a training exercise on the Aiguille Vert.
Members of the National Gendarmerie were training for their national diploma qualifications in mountain techniques when one of the men fell to his death.
The gendarmes were ascending on the Mer de Glace side of the mountain via the Whymper Couloir, which still has plenty of snow cover this spring and inclines 45-55° during the final section. The men were not roped together and the reason for the fall is not clear, but the victim fell around 400 metres from about two thirds of the way up.
He was a 32 year old man from Saint-Julien-Montdenis in Maurienne and had been a gendarme since 2007.
Source: Le Dauphiné Libéré
