Seven rescued on the Pic du Midi

SEVEN people snowed in for the past week at nearly 2,900m on the Pic du Midi have been rescued by a gendarmerie helicopter.

They were among 13 people stuck at the mountain-top observatory after the cable car broke down and could not be repaired because of bad weather. The weather also halted rescue helicopters from taking off.

The 13 had arrived at the 2,877m Pic du Midi observatory on November 3 and 4. They included observatory technicians, astronomers and staff from Télédiffusion de France, working on the giant TV mast.

Six of the stranded personnel –technicians and their chef – are remaining on the mountain as they are still working, but the others were airlifted down to the cable car base at La Mongie, part of the Grand Tourmalet ski area in the Pyrenees, where their cars were waiting to head back down the valley.

Amateur astronomer David Néel, from Paris, was one of the 13 stranded and told journalists that they were not really besieged as they had plenty of food and water – but they were bored.

The Pic du Midi observatory hosts France’s largest telescope, the 2-meter Bernard Lyot telescope.

Watch a video of the 15-minute cable car ride to the top of the Pic du Midi (in good weather) here here on YouTube .

• Alpe d'Huez ski station in the Alps opened three weeks early at the weekend to welcome its first skiers, around 1,500 of them. See related story: Ski season starts early in Alps

Pic du Midi photo: © Atout France/R-Cast