Sun Aug 2013, a rare incident high above Chamonix - a tandem paraglider caught on the cables of the Brevent telepherique lift system.
The pilot and his client took off from Plan Praz (2000m) below the Brevent (2500m), and became trapped on the right (looking up from Plan Praz) cable cluster of the telepherique system. The pilot is an experienced paragladier* and susequent tests showed that he had not consumed alcohol.
Neither the pilot nor his client, who was making his first paraglider flight, were injured in the incidentand both were recoverd from their precarious position by the Chamonx PGHM using their Alloette Helicopter.
Currently, the precise causes of the accident are unknown - an investigation has been opened.
Tandem paraglider flights are very safe and accidents are extremely rare. The last known commercial paraglider accident in Chamonix was in 2009 and no one was injured.
*paragladier = paraglider pilot (you read it here first!)
