Miracle of Spanish snowboarder in Les 2 Alpes |
|
|
|
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 |
A young Spanish snowboarder spent 44 hours out in the cold of the Les 2
Alpes mountains before being found and rescued late Tuesday morning,
according to French media reports.
The 18 year old had gone out snowboarding in Les 2 Alpes on Sunday
afternoon and quite simply got lost. It seems the bad weather and poor
visibility meant he lost his way. His friends gave the alert to the
emergency services when he failed to return at the end of the day.
The young snowboarder from Barcelona was finally found late on Tuesday
morning when a break in the clouds meant the rescue helicopter could be
scrambled to do a surveillance flight over the peaks. After spending 44
hours in the snow, finding the boarder alive has been described as
nothing short of a miracle.
Conscious but suffering from severe hypothermia, it seems the un-named
snowboarder had indeed got disorientated in the bad weather and,
whether he meant to or not, had gone completely off piste at 3200m
altitude. He then managed to find his own way over rock bands and
avalanches to descend down to 1275m, where he was picked up by the
helicopter and taken to Grenoble hospital.
Source : France 3
|