The fresh snow from the weekend kept Air Zermatt busy. Within a few hours, she was called to three crevasse accidents on Monday, as she announced on Tuesday. A group of Americans were descending from the Tête Blanche in the Val d’Herens in the Pennine Alps.
On the Stockji glacier, the mountain guide fell about 15 to 20 meters into a crevasse. Air Zermatt was able to rescue the injured mountain guide. He was then flown to the Inselspital in Bern.
Snowboarder fell 30 meters into a column
A snowboarder who fell into a crevasse outside the marked slope in the Saas-Fee ski area was only slightly injured. He was flown to the doctor for a check-up.
In the late afternoon, a snowboarder also fell about 30 meters into a crevasse outside the marked slope in the Klein Matterhorn area. Eight rescue specialists were involved in the complex rescue operation, which took around one and a half hours. The Air Zermatt rescue helicopter then flew the injured snowboarder to the hospital in Visp VS.
In addition, two rope teams in the Monte Rosa area in the Valais Alps were surprised by the low temperatures. They still made it back to the Monte Rosa hut. From there, Air Zermatt flew two people with severely frostbitten toes to the hospital in Visp. Later, the patients had to be transferred by helicopter to the University Hospital in Geneva. (SDA/dzc)