Hundreds of skiers had to be rescued by helicopter on Christmas Eve after chairlifts at two different resorts in the French Alps broke down.
Dramatic video shows skiers from Dévoluy’s SuperDevoluy station hanging below a helicopter near a stationary chairlift. One of the resort’s chairlifts broke down at around 1pm local time on Tuesday due to an electrical problem with one of its motors, it said. New Republic.
About 240 skiers were evacuated from the lift around 5 p.m. local time at the resort in the Southern French Alps, where the elevation ranges from 6,000 to 8,200 feet above sea level. sea No one was hurt, Le Monde reported.
In Savoie, also in the French Alps, about 100 skiers got stuck in a lift on Tuesday at the La Norma ski resort, TF1 reportedin an unrelated incident. The Maurienne Valley complex rises from 4,500 to almost 9,000 feet in elevation.
The rescues came a day later death of 26-year-old Olympic snowboarder in a tourist resort in the Swiss Alps. Sophie Hediger, a member of Switzerland’s snowboard cross team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, died in an avalanche at the Arosa ski resort, the country’s ski federation announced on Tuesday.