Although the great weather of last weekend was welcome for almost everyone in Zermatt, for the Air Zermatt rescue crew, it meant a busy few days.

These pictures show one of the missions the team had to operate to the famous Breithorn, when two ski tourers had to call out the Zermatt rescue services.

Skier fell into a crevasse

The pair were working their way up the ascent to the 4164m peak when one of the two skiers slipped on hard-packed ice shortly before the summit and fell around 20 meters into a crevasse.

Five mountain guides were flown to the scene of the accident by the Air Zermatt emergency team, so that they could pull the accident victim out using the ‘tripod technique’.

Speed of the essence

The particular challenge of this rescue was caused by the extremely narrow gap in the crevasse.

However, after 90 minutes the team managed to extricate their lucky subject. By this time, his body temperature had fallen to just 30°C so he was flown immediately to the nearest hospital where he started his recovery.

Watch ‘The Horn’

You can find out more about the incredible service that Air Zermatt provides in the documentary programme ‘The Horn’.

Read our blog about that here for more information.