The young man will have something to tell but he is a kind of miracle. Leaving Monday at the end of the afternoon from Fontaine (Grenoble suburb), Loïc, 17, intended to join friends on a mountain bike at Plateau-des-Petites-Roches (Chartreuse). He finally spent the night on a cliff clinging to scanty vegetation.
Google Maps does not give real relief indications
For his journey, he had launched Google Maps on his smartphone, but on the journey “the app made it passexplains Brigadier Philippe Magnon, of the CRS Alpes, via Lumbin and the Pal de Fer trail“.”Except that at one point the Pal de Fer trail, it may be by bike going downhill but going uphill is more complicated“. When he came across an intersection, the young man then left his bike and took the direction of the via ferrata (closed) which is in this sector, saying to himself that it was the shortest but “on Google Maps, there is no notion of relief“. Not enough in any case. In the middle of the night the young man finally found himself on a cliff from which he could no longer move.
A night with 100 to 150 meters of vacuum underfoot
His phone still having battery, he was able to dial 112 and the men of the CRS Alpes went looking for him. What was not easy, says Brigadier Philippe Magnon. “He found himself in an inaccessible place. The comrades walked all night trying to find him but did not find him.“It was only in the morning and with the help of Dragon 38, the Civil Security helicopter, that he was able to be located. ‘clear out. “It was really surprise and amazement to see where he had arrived.“. The young man was on a rocky outcrop made wet by the rain, which overhung 100 to 150 meters of vacuum, hung “to clumps of grass“explains Philippe Magnon. He stayed about 10 hours in this position.
“He clung to life” – Philippe Magnon, CRS Alpes
“He was very lucky, estimates the brigadier of the CRS Alpes. The emergency services remained in regular contact with him. “He clung to life and until the end he believed in it. If he had slipped it would have been fatal.“When the Rescuers Got Him Back”he was happy to drink hot tea because he was quite chilled“. A young man “who may take several days to realize that he came close to disaster“.