“A miracle”, according to the emergency services: a teenager from Grenoble who went out to meet some friends by bicycle and got lost after having persisted, despite the prohibitions, on a route chosen on Google Maps spent Monday night 24 to Tuesday 25 October clinging to a rock wall before being rescued.
A hiking trail closed for a year.
The 17-year-old leaves his family home late Tuesday afternoon, in Fontaine, in the Grenoble hinterland, to go to a party in Seyssinet-Pariset, 2 km from his home and learns on the way that the evening finally takes place in Saint-Hilaire-du-Trouvet, in Chartreuse, 25 km.
He searches for his destination with his mobile phone by choosing the “bicycle” option on Google Maps, CRS Alpes rescuers told AFP to confirm information from the Dauphiné Libéré.
Except that the chosen route makes him take a hiking trail that has been closed for a year after the landslides. In addition, the relief is too important. A parameter that the application does not take into account.
suspended in the void
Night begins to fall, but he sets off, “without asking any questions”, ignoring a prohibition sign. He abandons his bike, walks towards a via ferrata, also prohibited after the rockfalls. He follows the first section built on the rock wall, without any equipment, in the rain.
Therefore, he walks up to a ledge, a flat area on a mountain wall, which he runs up. Get off the via ferrata, then. Then, crossing a waterfall, he ends up hitting the cliff. More possible progress: crouched on all fours, he clings as best he can to grass and rock, suspended in the void.
It’s 11:10 p.m., he calls the emergency services and keeps his friends informed. Two CRS intervene, look for him until 6:30 am, communicate with him without being able to locate him visually.
Source: BFM TV
