Sunday 12 February 2023, Olivier Chamel, the operating manager of the Aiguille du Midi, lost his life in a fall on skis in Megève.
In the afternoon, during a ski touring outing, Olivier Chamel began the descent of the Aiguille Croche (2.487m) but lost his balance for an unknown reason and was dragged into a fatal fall.
40 years of service to the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc
According to Le Dauphine, this tragedy has bereaved an entire family and the entire Compagnie du Mont-Blanc.
In shock, the CEO of the ski lift company Mathieu Dechavanne, underlined in a letter addressed to all the employees, the human qualities and the professionalism of Olivier Chamel who had nearly forty years of experience and who had spent the his career behind the scenes of the highest cable car in France.
“He will leave a large void. Everyone will remember beautiful moments of sharing, but also his rants and his passionate exchanges, ”writted the CEO.
“We would like to pay tribute to him for all that he has given to us, his expertise and his perfect knowledge of the Aiguille du Midi site. »
An American skier dies at Brévent
Earlier in the same day, at 10:10 a.m., a young American, aged 21, died after engaging in a gravity off-piste located under the Cornu chairlift, in the Brévent ski area.
While moving in a steep couloir with hard snow, the skier unscrewed and was unable to stop his fall. Polytraumatized and in cardiorespiratory arrest, the skier, who was not wearing a helmet, could not be resuscitated by the area trackers. On their arrival on the spot, the PGHM could only confirm his death.
For their part, after two particularly busy days with around twenty operations, the gendarmes of the Chamonix PGHM are calling on mountain practitioners to be extra careful on and off the slopes.
Source: @Le Dauphine
The Chamonix.net team expresses its most sincere condolences to the victims families and their friends.
