Why no athlete goes on the mountain without a transceiver
16/11/2018
She herself came closest to benefiting from the technology three years ago when she was caught in an avalanche on Courmayeur. The Freerider was hit by an avalanche while halfway down the slope. Her husband and fellow athlete, former French Olympic team Enak Gavaggio, was at the top, watching the drama unfold. He stayed still, keeping as close an eye as he could on where the snow was carrying Ms Lechasseur to waste no time in digging her out.
“In the end, I was lucky because I stayed on top of the snow,” she said, “but I suffered a bad break in my arm and that meant I could not pull the toggle for my airbag. Even basic safety measures such as covering my face with my hands to stop snow from going into my mouth would have been impossible. The transceiver kept working, of course. The transceiver would have been my salvation.”
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