2 Stranded Skiers Survive Night Off-Piste Near Val D’Isere Thanks to Temperature Inversion

On the night of January 15, two Dutch skiers aged 43 and 74 became stranded in the off-piste area of Gorges du Malpasset, near the Val d’Isère ski area in Savoie, France. The skiers were trapped in challenging terrain and called for help around 1 a.m. French search and rescue teams were unable to locate them until 6:45 a.m. due to a language barrier that made pinpointing their exact location difficult. 

Even with perfect communication, Paul Bellon, head of the CRS Alpes d'Albertville unit, described the rescue as "very complicated... They are stuck; threy have rocky ledges above and below and are surrounded by avalanche slopes." The complexity of the rescue, which ended in the use of a helicopter, forced the pair of Dutch to wait out the night in their precarious position.

The pair of skiers likely only survived the chilly night at 2,300 meters because of an inversion layer that settled near the ground. Under normal conditions, air temperature decreases as altitude increases. However, during a temperature inversion, a layer of warm air sits above a layer of cooler air near the ground. This traps the cooler air below the warmer layer, creating a stable atmospheric condition.

We're certainly glad these two made it home safe and with all their limbs!