Tim Blakey (41) from Great Britain was alone with his snowboard in the Valais mountains Alps. As he skied a little off-piste, he fell almost five meters into a hidden crevasse. Only thanks to a so-called snow bridge did he not fall even lower.
But the native New Zealander was still in mortal danger. Because the brittle snow bridge on which he had landed threatened to collapse at any time. Time was pressing. He also had only three percent battery, like that «Daily Mail» reported. Then he remembered that he could call for help using the SOS function on his iPhone. He pressed the power button on the side of his phone five times. This notifies the local rescue service and sends the location at the same time. In addition, all numbers stored in the phone as emergency contacts are informed by text message that there is an emergency. In the crevasse, Tim Blakey had a 3G connection.
And so the local rescue specialist and mountain guide Michael Schwarzl (54) was alerted. “The alarm came to me via the operations center in Sion – I then get the coordinates on my cell phone, am picked up by helicopter and taken to the scene of the accident,” says the Austrian to Blick. The Brit was very lucky. “He was almost unharmed and the three of us were able to pull him out of the crack with a simple pulley.”
At the next visit a beer as a thank you
The fall into the crevasse still took a lot out of Tim Blakey. “He got very used to it, he was nervous and a little pale,” says Schwarzl. Again and again the Briton thanked for the rescue. The mountain guide to Blick: “I told him he should just buy me a beer when he comes by again.”
According to Michael Schwarzl, winter sports enthusiasts underestimate the danger of the glacier. “Maybe they see a few tracks next to the runway, maybe they’re not far from the marked area, and then it happens and they break in.” According to the mountain guide, another example shows that not all accident victims are as lucky as Tim Blakey.
“It can also end badly, a few days later someone had an accident in a similar way – but he didn’t survive the fall. That’s just Russian roulette, what you play when you ski next to the piste in this area,” explains Schwarzl. That is why it is so important to ski within the markings in the ski areas. (obf)
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