As soon as it had finished, Matt sprang into action. He got out his mobile phone and called the emergency services on 112. He got patched through to someone who knew where we were. Matt requested a helicopter to air lift two injured climbers. The response was immediate and that they would be there in 15 minutes.
While we waited, we pulled down the ropes from the abseil and coiled them. We tidied up our equipment and checked that we would be able to unclip quickly from the belay. Matt and Andy decided that I would go first then Andy with Matt last. Then we waited, ready to dive into the corner should another avalanche come down.
While I waited, I felt the swelling on my face. My right eye was nearly closed now. There didn’t seem to be any broken bone so I spent the time holding snow on my face to ease the swelling.
The sound of rotor blades was fantastic. The helicopter did a pass low down in the valley while we waved and raised our arms in the “Y” shaped “We Need Assistance” signal. They saw us and came round in a climbing turn to hover about 30 metres above and in front of us. We busied ourselves, double checking that we were ready to go.
A crewman slid out of the side of the helicopter wearing mountaineering clothes, crampons and a rucksack. He was lowered down and the helicopter manoeuvred to get him onto the 45 degree slope where we were belayed. He was spinning around with flashing crampon spikes, but I managed to get hold of him and he pulled himself in. He very quickly assessed the situation and clipped the helicopter cable into my harness. Andy unclipped my final sling. The crewman gave one last check of my equipment, a hand signal to the pilot and I was whisked away up into the sky.
Relief flooded through me. I had about 30 seconds to enjoy the view before I was dragged into the helicopter. I was quickly unclipped and, while they went back down for Andy, my crampons were removed. I just lay there in a heap. Andy arrived about 2 minutes later and then Matt and the crewman were winched up together. Matt told the crew that there were possibly four other climbers below us, so the helicopter descended to the valley and then flew up the whole lower route. We couldn’t see anyone, so the pilot flew off.
The helicopter landed on the langlauf field in Cogne, where Matt and Andy were unloaded. The crew kept me on board and flew me down to Aosta, where an ambulance was waiting to take me to hospital. Back in Cogne, Matt had a look at Andy’s injuries and told the officials that he thought Andy had serious injuries. The helicopter came back to get Andy and took him to the hospital. Matt walked back to the apartment.
PROLOGUE
Matt escaped with minor bruises.
I was kept in hospital for two nights for observation, but had no internal damage or broken bones - just bruising to the upper half of my body, in particular my ribs and my face. When released, I gingerly got into a taxi to Geneva, met Glenys there and flew home.
Andy had a broken sternum, two broken ribs and two cracked vertebrae. He was kept in hospital for 7 days and flown home in an Air Ambulance.
In my humble opinion, we were too slow and in the wrong place on such a warm day. There had been no major avalanches during the week, but it was warmer on that day that any other, so we suffered the consequences - we were lucky...
ITALIAN NEWS RELEASE
“English climbers swept by Avalanche“
Ieri pomeriggio, in località Lillaz, a Cogne, due alpinisti di nazionalità inglese impegnati nella scalata di una cascata di ghiaccio sono stati travolti da una colata di neve. La piccola valanga, staccatasi per l'alta temperatura registrata nel pomeriggio, ha coinvolto complessivamente 3 alpinisti, di cui uno è rimasto illeso. I due feriti, che hanno subito traumi di lieve entità, sono stati trasportati dal soccorso alpino valdostano in elicottero all'Ospedale regionale Parini di Aosta.
Translation:
Yesterday afternoon, at Lillaz in Cogne, three British mountaineers involved in climbing a waterfall of ice were overwhelmed by a melt of snow. The small avalanche came off the high temperature recorded in the afternoon. A total of 3 climbers were involved - one is left unscathed. The two injured, who suffered minor injuries, were transported from the alpine rescue helicopter to the Regional Hospital of Aosta.
- << Prev
- Next