Chilling POV Video Shows a Skier Falling Into a Glacial Crevasse in the France Alps

Ice crevasse

Photo: debstheleo/Depositphotos (Not a photo of the actual crevasse)

Ski footage is usually full of thrills and amazing views, but a video shared by a group of skiers in France shows the more dangerous side of this extreme sport. The POV video, shot with a GoPro camera attached to a skier's helmet, sees him falling feet-first into a deep glacier crevasse and narrowly missing a terrible fate.

The clip was posted to social media by Les Powtos, a group of French off-piste skiers. The crew was skiing near a glacier on the mountain of Meije near La Grave in the southern Alps when one of their members came across a hole in the ground at such high speed that he couldn't avoid falling down. Much to his luck, a bump on the side of the glacier prevented him from going under. “Oh, the idiot!” He can be heard saying to himself in French.

The team members estimate that the skier slid about 50 feet into the glacier before coming to a stop. As he pummeled down, the others watched him disappear from a lower vantage point. “Those were the longest minutes of our lives. We didn't know how deep he'd fallen, or if he'd slipped headfirst,” a member of Les Powtos told 20 Minutes.

Once the rest of Les Powtos reached the spot where their friend disappeared, they found he had started hoisting himself with the help of the crampons under his shoes and the skis on his back. The team then used ice screws, axes, and a rope to bring him to safety. Luckily, the man didn't sustain any injuries and was even able to continue skiing after catching his breath.

The video dates back to April 2022, but out of respect for their friend—who chose to remain anonymous—and the fact that they almost lost a member of their crew, Les Powtos waited a year to share it.

“We didn't post the video before because we questioned ourselves a lot about whether or not to publish it, we needed to take a step back,” they explained to Ouest-France. “We let a year go by, then finally decided to post it. We thought it couldn't hurt to share our experience.” While they are aware that the video is really scary, they see it as a prevention tool. “Even if you know the La Grave glacier, you can be taken in by euphoric descents,” they add.

The group continues to share their adventures on social media, which show fewer moments of tension but rather lots of footage of them sliding down the French Alps and the amazing views on the way down. To stay up to date with them, follow Les Powtos on Instagram.

Watch a skier fall down a glacier crevasse in this tense video shared by French off-piste skiers group Les Powtos.

 

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Una publicación compartida por Les Powtos ❄️ (@lespowtos)

Sources: Les Powtos on InstagramTerrifying GoPro Footage of Skier Plunging into Deep Glacier Crevasse; Un skieur tombe dans une crevasse dans les Alpes, la vidéo de sa chute devient virale; Alpes : les images chocs d’un skieur qui tombe dans une crevasse

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Regina Sienra

Regina Sienra is a Staff Writer at My Modern Met. Based in Mexico City, Mexico, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications with specialization in Journalism from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has 10+ years’ experience in Digital Media, writing for outlets in both English and Spanish. Her love for the creative arts—especially music and film—drives her forward every day.
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