Monday 24th April 2017, a Belgian man (52), slipped on a névé and suffered a fatal fall while hiking on the traverse Aiguille-Montenvers, in the Orthaz couloir.
According to Le Dauphine, the accident occurred on the footpath, between the Plan de l'Aiguille and the Montenvers site, where the Belgian hiker fell to his death.
According to Le Parisien, the man departed alone on Monday 24th April, from the Plan de l'Aiguille (2,317 m) to the Montenvers.
Not seeing him come back, the person who hosted him in a guest house raised the alarm to the rescue team, yesterday, Tuesday 25th April, in the early morning.
According to Le Dauphine, the hiker was found dead on Tuesday morning by the PGHM of Chamonix on the heights of Chamonix. His body was found during an aerial search with the civil security helicopter, in the Orthaz couloir, at about 200 meters below the footpath, in a steep slope.
According to the preliminary investigations led by the Chamonix PGHM, the hiker slipped on névé snow.
An investigation has been opened by the Chamonix PGHM to determine the exact circumstances of the accident.
Névé is a young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted and has a density of at least 500 kilograms per cubic meter. This type of snow is associated with glacier formation through the process of nivation. Névé that survives a full season of ablation turns into firn, which is both older and slightly denser. Firn eventually becomes glacial ice–the long-lived, compacted ice that glaciers are composed of.
Neve snow is mostly located on the south-facing slopes that are exposed to the sun. When crossing on a south-facing slope in the morning, you should be aware that you are on a real slide: if you fall, you could theoretically reach speeds close to a free fall.
So, pay particular attention!
