Just before a 78-year-old skier suffered a fatal fall on the Avila slope of Sommet Saint-Sauveur, a week ago, another skier suffered a serious accident that could have cost him his life in the same segment of the same track, learned The Press.
The death of Gérard Proulx made the headlines. The Press reported1 on January 16, without naming him, the death of Mr. Proulx: “The death of the skier, who was in his seventies, would not be the result of a collision. »
It was the family of Mr. Proulx, 78 years old, who contacted The Pressbecause she wanted to denounce a development described as unsafe on the Laurentides trail.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY
Gérard Proulx
One of Mr. Proulx’s sons, Sylvain, said his father was trapped by a cloud caused by snow cannons. However, says Sylvain Proulx, this cloud hid a mound of snow which propelled his father into the air, causing a fatal fall, towards the end of the Laurentides trail.2.
When The Press asked Sylvain Proulx – who was not present during his father Gérard’s fateful skiing trip – where he got this information from, he explained that a few minutes before the accident, another skier had suffered a serious accident at the same place.
INFOGRAPHICS THE PRESS
This skier’s name is Carol Morissette. He is an entrepreneur from the Laurentians, a member of the family that once owned the Le Titan junior hockey club in Laval.
Reached in intensive care at Saint-Jérôme hospital yesterday, the 68-year-old man confirmed the words of Sylvain Proulx: “I was going down the Laurentians and I see a snow cannon, there is the cloud of the snow cannon . I go around the cloud to avoid it, but I couldn’t avoid it, it becomes white on white…”
It was then, says Carol Morissette, that he literally flew away. He could no longer see anything, but he felt that he was no longer touching the runway: “I was gliding, at least 15, 20 feet. I’ve never jumped like that in my life. Even when I fell back, on my left side, I fell blind, everything was white on white, I was in an immense shower of snow…”
The shock was devastating, fracturing Carol Morissette’s femur when her thigh bone suddenly moved up on her artificial titanium hip: “My femur fractured along the length, like a log. »
The skier also seriously injured an elbow and a finger, in addition to suffering bruises to his shoulders and a concussion. Lying on the track, he was not at the end of his troubles: no one was in sight to warn the patrol officers.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Carol Morissette suffered a series of injuries, including a broken femur.
“I screamed for help, no one saw me. When someone finally arrived, I asked to call the stretcher bearers. They sent the stretcher bearers, who arrived in a Ski-Doo. »
The patrol officers then came to the aid of Carol Morissette.
Another accident in the same place
He was strapped to a stretcher, on the back of the snowmobile, when he heard on the patrol radios that another accident had just occurred: “They talked about another accident, in the same place , but that the skier was in cardiac arrest. I didn’t know about the accident, I just heard it on their radios. »
Mr. Morissette claims to have told the patrol officers, when they arrived, to close the trail to prevent anyone from suffering the same fate as the one he had just suffered.
It was later, at the Saint-Jérôme hospital, that Carol Morissette learned the identity of the victim: “I knew him, he was someone I had already met on the slopes, with whom I had shared ski lifts before. I had seen him that morning, in the parking lot. »
Mr. Morissette says that the ambulance called to the scene to transport him to the hospital was ultimately used to transport Mr. Proulx, given his more serious condition. He said he was transported to Saint-Jérôme in the ambulance called for Mr. Proulx’s accident.
What catapulted Carol Morissette – and quite possibly Gérard Proulx – into the air, without their knowledge, in the middle of a cloud of snow?
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Simon Pagé, vice-president of the Sommets, insisted that the signage was compliant.
Mr. Morissette said he went down the Laurentides slope the day before, Monday January 15, and did not see anything that might resemble a ramp for doing acrobatics: “It looks like a competition ramp, they must have done that during the night . »
Simon Pagé, vice-president of Sommets, the organization that oversees four ski resorts in the Laurentians, including the Avila slope of Sommet Saint-Sauveur, agreed to answer questions from The Press.
At the scene of the accidents, Mr. Pagé states that they occurred at the bottom of the Laurentides trail, at the base of the mountain, at the junction of adjoining trails.
“Did the two accidents happen in exactly the same place?
— I can’t say, but it’s the same sector. »
Mr. Pagé affirms that there was snowmaking from cannons near the Laurentides, in the area of the neighboring snow park, on the Piedmont.
“Mr. Morissette says he flew away, as if he were on a ramp…
— There are details that I don’t have, replied the VP of Summits, but if he says he flew away, it’s probably because of a pile of snow that was being made. »
Did the accidents of MM. Were Proulx and Morissette caused by the same pile of snow? Response from Simon Pagé: “We are collaborating with the investigation by the Sûreté du Québec and that of the coroner. »
What did the patrol officers do when Mr. Morissette ordered them to close the runway? Mr. Pagé’s response: “It is possible that he mentioned this, but it is essential to understand that the priority at this time is to give first aid, as the trail was well marked with the pictogram, all in compliance with current law. »
An investigation by the Coroner’s Office is in fact underway, an investigation to which the Sûreté du Québec is assisting.
“This sport has a shared responsibility”
Mr. Pagé could not say, yesterday, if additional measures to prevent danger had been put in place after the first accident, that of Mr. Morissette, for example by “bamboos”, these cross-shaped sticks sometimes installed upstream of a dangerous sector.
As for the time elapsed between the two accidents, Simon Pagé estimated it between 40 and 60 minutes. After the second accident, which caused the death of Gérard Proulx, the Laurentides track was closed, “since we had to investigate following the incidents”.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
An investigation by the Coroner’s Office is underway, an investigation to which the Sûreté du Québec is assisting.
“We put so much energy into being merchants of happiness, we deplore this situation. […] Like it or not, it is a sport that carries certain risks. This sport carries a shared responsibility. »
We are responsible for putting in place adequate signage. But customers also have the responsibility to read the signs.
Simon Pagé, vice-president of the Summits
In his exchanges with The Press, Simon Pagé insisted that the signage was compliant: “The pictogram indicated that there was snow downstream of the Piedmont piste, which was a closed piste. The pictogram was located upstream of the junction of the Laurentides and Piedmont slopes, 140 feet from the pile: skiers coming from the Laurentides arrive directly in front of this pictogram. »
Carol Morissette, for his part, is categorical: he has never seen a pictogram warning of any snow cover, at the exit of the Laurentides slope, Tuesday morning.
From his bed in intensive care, Mr. Morissette rails against those responsible for managing the slopes, on the Avila slope of Sommet Saint-Sauveur: “Someone didn’t do their job. »