The man, in his fifties, fell nearly 30 meters after a snow bridge concealing the crevasse broke under his weight.
A snowboarder in his fifties lost his life on Monday, March 17, on the Vallée Blanche off-piste route. Around noon, the foreign man fell nearly 30 meters to the bottom of a crevasse hidden beneath a snow bridge that collapsed under his weight, in the area of the real Vallée Blanche.
The group he was part of, supervised by a professional, immediately raised the alarm. But despite the rapid response of rescue resources deployed by the Chamonix Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM) with the assistance of the Dragon 74 and Choucas 74 helicopters, the snowboarder died of his injuries. His body was repatriated to the Bois helicopter base.
A brutal tragedy that serves as a reminder that descending this legendary glacial off-piste route harbors very real dangers.
Le Dauphiné
