Piste Patrollers hit by avalanche at Tignes

Two off-duty members of the Tignes piste patrol have been injured, one seriously, by an avalanche shortly after midday today. One of the men, a Tignard, was trapped under the snow for half an hour. He was taken to hospital in a severe state of hypothermia; his body temperature was 28°C. Reports are that the large slide occured under the Petit Col in the Chardonnet Bowl close to the Aiguille Percee.

The other piste patroller, who is on an exchange from an American resort, was recovered after a few minutes under the slide with a dislocated shoulder. He gave a statement to the police saying that they stopped at around 2,500 meters in an off-piste sector when a slide hit them from above. The police wan to establish if the slide was triggered by other skiers. Both men were equipped with avalanche beacons. Normally all the piste patrollers at Tignes are equipped with ABS Avalanche Airbags but it is not known if they were wearing them in this case. The avalanche risk was considerable (3/5) at the time. Meteo France had warned of slabs on open faces with slabs and accumulations of more then 1 meter depth with layers of graupel destabilizing the snowpack.

Posted by on Friday, 05 January, 2007 at 05:09 PM

Salut thibault. I was skiing under the telesiege Grand Huit when I saw the avalanche and I quickly sent my friends to call the ski patrol and I went directly to the spot were the avalanche had fallen to start looking for Jake and Bruno. I didn´t have an arva so I stayed near a person that had one untill to other persons found jake, they continued looking for Bruno and I helped to dig out Jake. Je faisez une video juste avant que la avalanche a tombé et un foto juste depuis. Dans le foto tu peux voir un garçon qui est sur la avalanche. Es que Bruno et Jake pensez qui ils etait tout seules? Je sais qui il avec un mec juste en haut de leurs. Demand le cuestiones que tu veulez, j´essayerai de te repondre. Esque tu sais comme va Bruno?

Posted by on Saturday, 13 January, 2007 at 02:31 PM

As the father of one of the Brits killed in Tignes in April 2005 I agree that it is disapointing that the French authorities are not doing more to safeguard the safety of all especially as the avalanche risks are increasing and of course the number of deaths increasing. Especially as it includes a lot of “experienced” people. The insurers are certainly not paying for this type of accident. The French should follow the Americans whose safety record is so much better.

Posted by Peter on Thursday, 18 January, 2007 at 08:21 PM

Latest news I had for the piste patroller was that his conditions was still very serious.

We discussed Peter’s son’s terrible accident and the insurance repercussions:

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/mountain-of-debt-for-tignes-avalanche-families/

Dealing with insurance companies and other agencies is not what you want at a time like this. I would just add that the director of piste security, Jean-Louis Tuallon is on record as saying that he didn’t believe that Sam and James committed any particuarly error in their choice of route and that any discussion on this site was concerned with any lessons that could be learned.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families.

http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/british-boarders-killed-by-tignes-avalanche/

Posted by davidof on Friday, 19 January, 2007 at 03:26 PM

Jake Christian, a member of the Telluride Ski Patrol on a season-long work exchange in Tignes, France, survived a massive avalanche Friday while skiing an off-piste slope just beyond the patrolled boundary of the resort…

Telluride Ski Patroller Survives Avalanche in France

Posted by davidof on Monday, 22 January, 2007 at 05:37 PM

Bruno Faberge unfourtunatly died last Monday, 16th April.
Bruno had been in a coma since the accident.

A great loss of such a young man.

Posted by on Saturday, 21 April, 2007 at 12:59 PM