UKC

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/man-and-son-12-die...

In reply to Trangia: There was another thread running earlier about what seems like a terribly tragic incident, but I'm viewing on my phone so cut and paste capacity for more than one link gets awkward. Instead of linking to that I'll link to the report in The Guardian, which brings home just how sad this was. Thoughts, as always, are with those affected.

http://gu.com/p/3efp4

T.

In reply to Trangia: Getting annoyed at the shoddy media coverage of the incident with stock imagery of the tragic maudit avalanche last year and quoting the proximity to Mt. Blanc as if it was somehow connected to the incident.

In reply to Trangia: The reports I have read refer to the Couloir des Bossons, which presumably means the lower end of the glacier where it becomes La Jonction. Strange place to go walking with a boy in winter conditions, if this is true.

In reply to altirando:

News this morning said that they didn't have crampons or "ice picks"

In reply to Trangia: Some of the translation in the UK press have been a bit odd, in particular translating couloir as corridor in places where it obviously should be gully.

here's a French report which at least sounds believable

Lorsque les recherches, avec un hélicoptère de la gendarmerie, ont repris dimanche à 7H00, les secouristes ont retrouvé, quarante minutes plus tard, les corps des deux victimes, qui avaient chuté dans un couloir du secteur des Bossons, à environ 1.600 mètres d'altitude. "Le fils avait fait une chute d'environ 300 mètres dans un couloir et son père", qui vraisemblablement avait tenté de le secourir, a lui-même chuté d'environ 200 mètres, a-t-il dit.

Le père et son fils étaient arrivés samedi de Genève pour passer le week-end à Chamonix. Ils avaient choisi pour leur randonnée cet itinéraire, fréquenté surtout l'été et "pas beaucoup en hiver", surtout "sans raquettes". "Ils ont pu s'égarer car l'hiver, on ne voit plus le sentier qui disparaît sous la neige en traversant les couloirs et on a vite fait de chuter", a observé le capitaine Ribes.

"C'est un toboggan de neige et de glace, entrecoupé de barres rocheuses et si on n'a pas de crampons ou de piolets, il est impossible de s'arrêter", a-t-il dit. "Ils avaient du matériel pour une randonnée à la journée, avec des chaussures de type trecking à semelles crantées, mais pas adaptées à la montagne hivernale avec de la neige et de la glace", a souligné l'officier, ajoutant qu'il était toutefois "trop tôt pour porter un jugement dans cette affaire".

http://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/France-Monde/Actualite/24-Heures/n/Conte...

In reply to Doug:

To save other (Google)

When research with a police helicopter, resumed Sunday at 7:00, rescuers recovered, forty minutes later, the bodies of two victims who had fallen down a hallway sector Bossons, approximately 1,600 meters of altitude. "The son had fallen about 300 meters down a hallway and his father," who presumably had tried to help him, he himself fell about 200 meters, he said.

The father and son arrived Saturday from Geneva to spend the weekend in Chamonix. They were chosen for their hike this route, especially popular in the summer and "not much in the winter," especially "without snowshoes." "They could get lost because the winter you can not see the path that disappears under the snow through the corridors and was quick to fall," observed the captain Ribes.

"This is a slide of snow and ice, interspersed with rocky outcrops and if we do not have crampons or ice axes, it is impossible to stop," he said. "They had equipment for a day hiking with trekking type shoes with soles notched, but not suited to the winter mountains with snow and ice," said the officer, adding that it was however "too early to make a judgment in this case."

In reply to Trangia:

So they went for a walk, got so far around their route and came to a gulley, which they tried to cross in Vibram soles because they didn't want to turn back.

Terrible, terrible tragedy.