Beware of a false sense of security when skiing close to the piste!

Close to the piste is still off-piste!
This is a real example of an 11-year old boy being buried in the Le Tour ski area of Chamonix.

Beware of a false sense of security when skiing close to the piste!

ONLY OPEN AND MARKED PISTES are SECURED. Even skiing close to the piste, is not on-piste therefore you are off-piste. Skiing off-piste carries many risks including avalanches, icy or hard snow, rocky outcrops, cliffs and holes… none of which are signposted! There are no signs to find your bearings, and no one to alert the ski-patrol.

Fox was very lucky. Transceiver, probe and shovel are essential but do not prevent an avalanche.

To ski off-piste, you need to know more than just how to ski! You must be aware of the dangers, that way you know how to avoid them.

Production/réalisation : La Chamoniarde
Images et montage : Seven Twenty Productions
Images additionnelles par drone : Eric Courcier Accompagnateur en montagne-Photographe

Merci à Gillon et Fox Campbell, ainsi qu’aux pisteurs- secouristes du Service des Pistes - Le Tour Vallorcine pour leur témoignage.

We hope this story will have a strong educational, safety angle, so others stay safe in the mountains and it encourages people to become better educated, so if they have the ability to ski off-piste, they ski-equipped, aware of the risks and are vigilant and careful when doing so. The mountains are beautiful and amazing places, but they are also unpredictable environments and you don’t have to be far from the piste for something to happen, so you need to be prepared if it does.

Credit: La Chamoniarde (https://www.facebook.com/watch/chamoniarde/)