Paraglider survives crash on Mont Blanc
Man spends night in crevasse after crash landing

A paraglider had a serious accident this weekend when he lost control of his parapente and ended up in a crevasse on Mont Blanc.

The climber had ascended Mont Blanc on Friday without any problems and launched his parapente at around 5.30pm. Witnesses watched his takeoff through binoculars but were then horrified to see him spiral out of control and crash land into the North face of the glacier.

Despite knowing the general location of where he had landed, rescue services were unable to find him on Friday evening and had to abandon their search until Saturday morning.

Miraculously he was found alive when the search resumed - despite having crashed, been covered in 1.5m of snow and spent the night in a glacial crevasse at 4600m. Rescue services thought they were recovering a dead body, until they heard a moan from beneath the snow. The man was still alive, but extremely hypothermic with a body temperature of just 26°.

He was winched from the crevasse and transported by helicopter to Sallanches hospital, where he is out of danger but still recovering from his experience.

Source : Le Dauphiné Libéré

Parapente Schools & Instructors in Chamonix

What you say - tell us what you're thinking