Sunday 23rd April 2017, in the afternoon, an Italian woman (38) suffered a fatal fall of about 500 meters, in the couloir Armand Charlet (3,998m) on the south face of the Aiguille Verte massif (4,12 m).
According to Le Dauphine, the accident occurred shortly before 2 pm. The 38-year-old climber was destabilized by snow cascading down the couloir while she descended.
According to the preliminary investigations led by the Chamonix PGHM, the Italian woman was climbing with a 43-year-old British man. The two climbers didn't know each other but they were assigned to climb together and introduced by mutual acquaintances.
According to Le Dauphine, they spent the night at the Grands Montets Refuge (3300m). The top station of the Grands Montets cable car.
They departed the Refuge in the morning, at 2am and climbed up the couloir Couturier to the summit of the Grande Rocheuse (4,102m). Then they descended on the south side of the Aiguille Verte massif by way of the Armand-Charlet couloir.
The English man descended first reversing down the slope while looking up to his climbing partner, who followed a safe distance behind him. The climbers were not roped together. They planned to take the descent in three phases. During the first phase of the descent the accident occurred, at about 3,800 meters above sea level. The end of the first phase has secured himself into the ice, while waiting for his partner to join him. He watched how snow and ice began to cascade from above towards his climbing partner. As he was calling her, the volume of cascading snow increased and pushed her out of the slope. Then she overpassed her climbing partner and a rocky escarpment until her body came to rest in the debris cone, at the foot of the couloir. She had fallen over 500 meters.
The British man quickly raised the alarm to the rescue team.
The Chamonix PGHM was dispatched to the scene of the accident with a Smur doctor on board the civil security helicopter. The victim was not buried in the debris but sadly she was declared dead at the scene.
Unharmed, the British climber was flown to the hospital in Sallanches.
According to Le Dauphine, the 38-year-old victim was of Italian nationality but resided in Les Houches, in the Chamonix valley.
An investigation has been opened by the Chamonix PGHM to determine the exact circumstances of the accident.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Stéphane Bozon, commander of PGHM in Chamonix, the conditions were good, even if there is, "a high risk of cascading snow on a steep slope exposed to the sun, during the hottest part of the day". "They knew they had to get off quickly," added the commander of the Chamonix unit.
