French mountain rescuers prepare for holiday surge in Savoie

With the Christmas holidays approaching, France’s police mountain rescue teams are preparing for a rise in emergency callouts at ski resorts across Savoie in France. The Modane-based Alpine CRS unit, rotating weekly with high-mountain gendarmerie units, recently responded to an off-piste skiing accident in steep terrain involving a suspected femoral neck fracture.

Poor weather restricted helicopter access, requiring ground coordination before the injured skier was stabilised, given pain relief and evacuated by stretcher for helicopter transfer to a hospital in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.