Local guide tells of his attempt to come to the rescue of Haute Route avalanche victims
Following the avalanche in the col du Trient area on Monday which claimed the life of a UCPA student, local mountain guide Fabien Meyer has described to the local newspaper Le Dauphine Libere how he believes the tragedy could have been a lot worse.
The group of 11 students with two guides had left Grands Montets early Monday morning for the Chamonix to Zermatt ski tour. The group had successfully passed the Col du Passon and were heading to the glacier du Trient. Near the col de Ecandies at 2800m there was an avalanche. Although not particuarly large, the slide was powerful enough to knock down one of the UCPA trainees and two Austrian skiers who were in another touring group in the same area at the time.
The victim, a 30 year old air hostess from the Marne area in France, fell into a crevasse and it was presumed she was buried under a lot of snow.
News of the avalanche travelled to the Trient refuge, where guide Fabien Meyer had decided to take refuge with his own group of Haute Route skiers due to poor visibility. The hut guardian and Fabien, on hearing the news, immediately ventured back out into the snow storm to assist.
One Austrian skier suffered an open femur fracture, whilst the other suffered slight knee injuries. The guardian and the guide made an igloo to try and make the injured skiers as comfortable as possible, as the Swiss rescue services were only able to make their way on foot to the scene of the avalanche due to the bad weather.
All 26 skiers and guides were eventually repatriated into the Champex valley on Monday evening. The search for the body was called off on Monday night due to the atrocious weather, which also hampered any search attempts for Tuesday.
