My grandfather was a mountaineering, climbing and ski-tourguide in the alps for decades. in the mid 60s somewhere in the mont blanc area he fell (or rather slipped) down a crevasse about 30 meters (about 100 feet) deep, but virtually unharmed except for some bruises and an overstreched tendon. He found himself in an actual fucking ice cave and his first thought was "damn I need to explore this place" but his flashlight stopped working after about 5 minutes. So he decided to smoke a cigarette and wait for his partners to drop down a rope. They did that and started pulling him out. After about 10 meters, the damn rope broke! So he was back in the hole, this time with a fractured knee. Two of his partners went to get help, and an other guy dropped down some clothes and a blanket so he wont freeze. All in all he was down there for about 4-5 hours before a team of about 20 people managed to get him out. Luckily it happened in the morning so they had plenty of daylight. About 2 hours after they left, carrying him on an emergency sled, a massive avalanche went down exactly where it all happened. He still loves to tell this story to this day (he's almost 90 yrs old now). This ordeal never stopped him. He always thought of it as a fascinating experience and I admire him for that
Grew up in the alps, this is quite interesting to watch because they are clearly very experienced skiers. He saw the crevise running through the snow and stopped to inspect it at 2:02, what pushed him in was the pressure from the snow on top. This is a common issue with deep snow skiing, however his friend also majorly fucked him over by pushing so much loose snow on him in 2:15. This is why generally speaking you are trained to not attempt and stop on top of another person. The weight of the loose snow in conditions like these can push the person below away and in a situation like this, that can be fatal.
@@Aleshanation Interesting to come back to this video today and we just had news of a hiker being found who fell into a glacier crevice in the 70s. I imagine even as a duo it's easy to panic in such a situation. Unfortunately lots of people go by themselves which is fankly irresponsible and stupid.
Thank you for the analysis cuz I was trying to figure out what happened. It seem like he knew it was there for a second but then suddenly fell in it as his friend approached. I felt like his friend had something to do with it but couldn't quite tell what.
@@GR-bn3xjyou couldn’t tell he got pushed by snow? Do you know what an avalanche is? I genuinely am confused if your observation is so bad that you legitimately did not know what happened.
@@rhuarkk2138not everyone is experienced enough with snow or the area to tell, hard to see through a video anyway how much weight is carried with that snow if you aren't familiar with it
Seriously, for a second my only thought was “C’mon, we can’t see anything!” until I actually processed that that was the last thing he should’ve been worrying about
@@addisonmosher64 you may be right, but doesn’t the snow wall look dense? If I were alone and in that situation I’d try to gets the skis off and try to wall climb somehow idk that’d be terrifying
The scariest part here is that it's actually dangerous to try and climb yourself out because it's likely you'll end up covering yourself with snow as you dig yourself out.
(don't woosh me) But actually the bodies would still be there with their very frost bitten flesh, because they are basically refrigerated by the snow, it's the same thing with mount everest as well in the "rainbow alley/path" the bodies still have their skin intact but are very frost bitten.
Those rescuers are amazing. Its so impressive to see the work that they do. The guy is literally standing out of the helicopter staring out as if its nothing. Gave me chills
Some lessons to be learned here. 1: That wasn’t just a crevasse, that was a bergschrund. A bergschrund is the top of a glacier where it breaks away from the mountain. You can tell by how the crack traverses the entire slope. That means they were skiing down onto a glacier which means after passing that crack, you would be susceptible to passing more crevasses possibly hidden by snow bridges. Very dangerous. 2: never ski and stop above another skier in high angle backcountry terrain. You could fall and take out the skier below you or trigger and avalanche on top of them. 3: if you know you are traveling on a glacier, always be wearing a harness and have at least 1 ice screw with you. First thing you need to do if you fall into a crevasse is to place the ice screw and clip in so that you don’t fall deeper into the crevasse. 4: this is obviously in Europe which has the largest and most well-established alpine rescue network in the world. They get many calls on the daily to save people in mountainous terrain. So if you are ever in the mountains in Europe and you see a rescue helicopter hovering near you, they are looking for people who called in for an emergency and they are checking on you. There are 2 hand motions you need to know. If you did not call for help, extend your arms in a diagonal direction(one arm angled up and other arm angled down) this lets the rescue team know that you are okay and they can continue their search for whoever did call. This saves precious time that could be the difference between life and death for whoever calls. If you are the one who called, hold you arms up in a “V” or “Y” like the skier did in this video. This lets the rescue team know that you are the ones who called and need help.
@@northern_21 It doesn't make sense to routinely risk your life as a hobby unless you value impulsive momentary pleasure over your own safety. And you do these things when you either don't have much responsibility in your life or, again, you value impulsive pleasure more than say the responsibility you have for your family.
@@Littlemangoneinsane Everything in life is momentary pleasure, you can either spend your life critiquing what other people choose to do or you can go outside and do something fun. Your choice.
@@northern_21 A lot of people suffer greatly as a consequence of their voluntary choice to adopt responsibility. It has nothing to do with chasing impulsive pleasures. And their lives are full of meaning. People who are willing to possibly die just so they can experience excitement are abysmally irresponsible fools who will inevitably make the people in their lives suffer more than it's necessary.
He basically said that he couldnt remove his ski and he was afraid to fall even further or that the snow above him would fall. But most of the time he was saying that his knee was hurt.
I'm not a weak man but every time I see a rescue by the PGHM I get emotional, they are such fantastic EXPERTS, they train so much and are at the leading edge of their field...Chapeau! et Bien Merci! Glad it all worked out for the positive finalle
What baffles me is that this group didn't seem to be prepared for a crevasse rescue. I can't stress enough how important it is to get some training and carry some gear, even if it's just the most basic pieces. (They climbed up there so they had what would be have been required)
Boss-level buddy you have there, hanging on the edge that could of collapsed and calmly working the problem! You both kept your cool and have a killer story to tell and some awesome video! Heroic!
My uncle was a pilot in the 4-corners area with these rescue helicopters. It's insane how skilled you have to be- they lost like 2/3 pilots during his career (retired now, btw) Sudden storms, winds, etc. He also took avalanche classes with his son. This man in the video is incredibly lucky. My uncle loved backcountry, and occasionally got free lifts from other helicopter pilots when they had a free space on the pay-per-seat charters. (Back before insurance wouldn't let you do that- give rides to dangerous places for your friends for free)
Nobody is talking about the aim of that helicopter pilot once he was coming back to pick em up with the harness? The rescuer didn’t even have to move to catch the rope. Nice.
This is horrifying but you all handled it so well. I’m so sorry this happened to you and I hope your knee is okay. But this is also quite possibly the coolest video I’ve ever seen and it is cooler than any video game I’ve ever played.
Swears in another language are some of the easiest and most memorable words to learn. Even if you didn't know what merde meant before, you can definitely figure it out here lol.
I'm happy that you came out safe in that situation and the rescue was excellent! But as someone living in the mountains or someone that knows the conditions you can already see at 0:06 that there are crevasses and that you brought yourself in severe danger just by walking there. Still glad that everyone was safe in the end and rescued!
@@desmondjefferson2127when you look close enough you see a blue spot on the right side were the light shines through the glacier. I think everyone can take risks like they want but all should keep in mind that there are some people that aren't familiar with these conditions (like city people). These people could do things like that mindlessly and the rescue team is in great danger every time they do something like this. Also they had a lot of luck here! Often you fall a lot deeper and probably die...
from what other people have figured out, the thing he said was something allong the lines of watch out for the crevasse, and then he got pushed in from the snow his buddy kicked up while going down.
This is terrifying. Truly a nightmare scenario where you have virtually no control over the outcome and you’re completely at the mercy of the chance and the elements. Impressive composure as well, glad you’re ok.
just for everybody wondering what he said, I'm french so here's the translation -Be careful we're close to the end -Oh shit there's an avalanche (falls down crevasse and starts shouting) -Help me! I think my knees are broken! Oh shit, I'm sinking in deeper! Fucking hell! Come and pull me out! -Hang on! -My knees are really hurting and, I can't see much because of the snow on my face, warn the others quickly, just don't step where I did -This is gonna be hard, I'm not balanced properly, it's very dangerous -You have to go and warn the others -Take your boots off -I can't its too risky -You making any progress? -No -Then I'm gonna pass you my ice pick, try and take your boots off -No I can't, I'll go in even deeper, you need to call for help, I'm gonna try and move up (removes boot) here take my boot, my knees are really painful -Good job, try and grab the rope -I can't my knee hurts, I'm gonna try and remove the other boot -Grab the rope -Ok It's done -Good job Hope this translation helped you
He was saying it because more skiers that come will bring snow with them and it will increase his risk of being buried. It has nothing to do with caring for others
Sacrée video. Nous ne skions pas, nous faisons de la rando neige (sommets, pics), nous avons toujours nos piolets avec nous. En ski on nous a toujours dit la même, un piolet en cas d’urgence, des mousquetons et de quoi sangler pour porter un blessé au cas où et de quoi localiser pour les skieurs en cas d’avalanche (une mini pelle). Tout peut arriver très vite en neige 😔 tout va bien qui finit bien 🙏🏻 un grand merci aux sauveteurs, ils font toujours du bon boulot extraordinaire pour les avoir vu intervenir
I tore just 1 ligament in knee (pcl) & it was awful i don't know how many you tore but i can't imagine getting on top of that pain. Glad you survived always do this with a friend. Thanks for your friend who saved your life 👏
Guy who helped you MVP. Not a SINGLE piece of equipment dropped throughout all of that, perfectly calm the whole time, and then, cool as fuck while pulling you out: "At least you're not buried in the snow." Felt like a Call of Duty 4 cutscene.
@@DaRoyalSaif I mean, fun or not, it is pretty dumb. Humans decide to do pretty dumb stuff and a lot of that stuff is a lot more dangerous than it needs to be.
@@trickytreyperfected1482 I see your points, These kind of Stuff I recommend you pull of with a bunch of friends, just in case what was in this video happens to me, Although either way the chance for me to be in that position is close to 0 as the place I live, hasn’t experienced snow in fucking decades
Scary to believe that other people died like this either because their legs were too fucked up or someone wasn't there to help them, lucky this guy for surviving
basically he was saying "dont go above me it will all fall on top of me" in french: "ne viens pas au dessus de moi ça va me tomber sur la gueule" i mean its what i can remember lol it was at one moment also he sais multiple times "je me suis niqué le genou" which means "i fucked my knee up"
thats why the language system in schools is so bad. They teach you random vocabulary simply for a test and the dont actually teach you how to speak and interpret the language (for the first 3-4 years anyway, later at the very end of your learning the will teach you speaking skills) and learning at home is much faster (i say this assuming you are learning french at school
@@giraffewarrior1756 i also hated all of them they really just didnt like me either so i really didnt like the classes and i didnt pay attention so its kinda my fault but it was also theirs
Amazing that he stayed calm. Also amazing that he was worried about getting his skis out of there instead of unclipping and getting the fuck out of there!
For real, the people who put their lives on the line to help others. No matter how far away, how cold it is, or how steep, not all super heroes wear capes. Probably look like an angel flying in.
The fact that we have the ability to fly in with a helicopter and carry an injured person away is incredible. Imagine an ancient human seeing this happen.
@@msevans7 they have found remains of ancient humans in the alps.. with gear for climbing and exploring. It’s a certain desire we have, I’m sure he wasn’t skiing thoo😂
Well or think the hole was bit larger and fel all the way down in the mountain then your just waiting to starve to dead and freeze would be awfull slow death. If you make it down alive off course.. but then I would look for an opening and fel down head first so I would be faster death
Most of RU-vid “we almost died” and nothing happened or they are just pretending they did something dangerous This person: Actually happened, and he nearly died. Admitted his fault, explained his mistakes, showed the crazy videos and gave all of us lessons. But the most importantly, the world is fucking dangerous but beautiful
Yo you seen that video where they drop ice down into a hole and makes a weird sound? Now for some reason I'm imagining thats what would happen to the guy
I fell into a crevasse last winter and shattered my leg. Luckily it was only about 10 ft deep and I was able to climb out. I was alone and climbing out with a broken leg was the hardest thing I have ever done. I had a fiend with me but we got separated right before I fell in
Wow! That guy is lucky to be alive. 😳I was stunned after seeing the large crevasses when the chopper pulled the injured man up off the mountain. I recon if these guys only had a drone to scout the side of the mountain first before skiing down it could have prevented this accident, which could have been much worse for all the skiers. I was also surprised that none of these guys had ropes on their person while skiing down such a dangerous mountain. At times, it required ice climbing in certain areas.
@@mikeol510 A friend of mine had to call the heli for one of his friends that wasn't feeling good (or was scared, idk) and couldn't climb down the mountain. They both boarded the helicopter and they were charged 3000 euro each since it wasn't an emergency. This wasn't an emergency either (since it wasn't an accident), and I seriously hope he got charged
Yeah fair play as the dude was coming down to them from the helicopter I was thinking this is soo dangerous 😬 fair play to these guys, probably a daily thing having to go and save people
This happened to me once and I was completely under the snow, the best thing to do it spit so you know which way is down and then dig diagonally upwards
A few lessons to be learned from this video thanks for posting. Great idea for both people to have rope and not to ski right above your partner... especially with a terrain trap below.
