A telemark skier has been killed after a fall of 150 meters in the Aravis mountains around 13h00 yesterday. Due to the weather conditions the rescue helicopter was unable to fly. Two ground teams had a complicated task to locate the victim at the base of the cliffs.
The skier, 38 year old Mathieu Bucher, was descending the Bond'zaï route from the Pointe d'Areu when the accident occurred. The east facing route is grade 5.2. Except for a rappel the route never exceeds 45° but is tortuous with high cliffs below the skier the whole descent. Opened by Pierre Tardivel in 2006 it is rarely skied. It appears the victim caught a rock just below the snow surface after the rappel which destabilized him.
Bucher had recently descended the North-East Face of the Tardevant in the same range and had many other steep descents under his belt.
la Grave
Eleven skiers had to be rescued from the Orcière route on Tuesday afternoon. They had followed tracks but had been blocked at the level of the abseil. The rescue helicopter had to be called from Grenoble. A 50 year old Swedish skier fell into a crevasse on Monday afternoon. She was taken to hospital in Briançon suffering from facial injuries.