Dramatic footage of a helicopter partially landing on a mountainside shows the incredible moment a skier was rescued from the French Alps. The adrenaline-inducing video, posted on Facebook by Nicolas Derely, documents the precarious mission to rescue a young man who had injured his knee during a ski trip near the Anterne Pass.
While mounting a mountain rescue in dicey conditions in the French Alps, members of the French Mountain Police (PGHM) put their helicopter in a position that seemingly defies physics.
The video of the intense rescue mission, undertaken to save a young man injured on the side of a mountain on January 2, smacks of an action-movie scene. The injured man named Bruno clutches his knee as a helicopter digs its landing skid into the snowy facade, its propellers cutting through the clouds and nearly scraping the mountain with each rotation.
The rescue happened near the Anterne Pass at an altitude of 7,000 feet. Bruno had twisted his knee during an arduous skiing trek through the mountains. Despite standing above cloud level, Derely still had a miraculous phone signal. He called the authorities, who soon swooped in to perform the heroic feat.
As members of his party watched on, a helicopter from the Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne (French Mountain Police) delicately nudged its nose towards the steep slope.
The pilot managed to plant the aircraft’s right landing skid into the snowy incline to allow three members of the rescue team to disembark and treat the injured man.
The medics fitted a leg brace on Bruno before the helicopter returned to perform the daring procedure again.
With the helicopter’s rotor blades just inches away from smashing into the snow, the skier was winched away to a nearby hospital.
