PGHM : The world's largest mountain rescue station

The helicopter’s two turbines roar at the top of their lungs. No sooner had it landed in its drop zone at the Chamonix valley rescue base than the squirrel (a state-of-the-art EC145) had to set off on another rescue mission. This time a climber was reported lost in the Envers des Aiguilles sector. Both her ankles are broken. She had to be evacuated.

The duty rescuers (the first to walk in rescue jargon) were on the front line. Everything was moving very quickly, like a well-oiled machine. Information flows smoothly between the pilot, the base and the drop zone. If the first responders have to intervene, it’s a team of second responders who step in. The base’s watchword: never leave anyone alone in distress up there.

It wasn’t always that way. In the post-war years, mountaineers who went into the mountains could not count on any logistical support. As at sea, it was the corporate fraternity that came to the rescue. But it has its limits. That Christmas in 1956, two young students paid for this amateurism with their lives. Their live agony had the whole country in an uproar. The National Assembly mourned these sacrificed children and passed a law introducing free and organised mountain rescue services. For the first time in France, the Gendarmerie Nationale set up a Specialised High Mountain Group in Chamonix,” wrote the Dauphiné Libéré in October 1958. Its primary mission was mountain rescue. It would serve as a framework for the Gendarmerie’s various training courses and would also have the task of experimenting with a large amount of special material and equipment in order to improve rescue conditions and speed as much as possible”.

Elite commandos

Half a century on, this profession of faith has not aged a bit. Named the Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montagne (High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon) in 1971, when it was officially put in charge of commanding and providing all rescue services in the Mont-Blanc massif after another fiasco – the rescue of René Desmaison and Serge Gousseault in the Grandes Jorasses – the rescue group saw its public service mission as a Hippocratic oath. “An elite troop, almost an intervention commando,” says photographer Philippe Poulet, a specialist in special units.

In the 1960s, the gendarmerie entered its best members in downhill and cross-country skiing competitions to prove its legitimacy. Today, we’re fighting to integrate this high mountain elite. “Half of the 35 military first-aiders who now work for the PGHM in Chamonix have a guide diploma. The other half are preparing for it,” explains Major Régis Lavergne, who has headed the PGHM since 2006. We require them to have a very high technical level and to be totally available. 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Even if they’re resting in the valley, I know I can count on all the men in the unit in the event of a major intervention. They’re passionate about what they do.

Their area of operation covers the Mont-Blanc region, from Vallorcine to Contamines-Montjoie. It’s an icy, unforgiving mineral environment that’s so dangerous it demands unfailing efficiency and speed of response. I have the impression that everything moves faster these days,” observes Philippe Poulet. Just a few years ago, there was less of a sense of urgency here”. It’s probably a question of resources. Jean-Yves Claudon joined the PGHM in Chamonix in 1984. “Up until the end of the 1980s, medical assistance was not systematic. We only called in the doctor in the event of a very serious accident. Today, we almost always take a doctor with us in the helicopter, and rescue operations have been even quicker since the Gendarmerie and the Sécurité Civile set up their air detachments in the valley. In the past,” he adds, “we had to wait for the machines to come up from Megève or Annecy.

High altitude police report

The PGHM’s aura has also grown with the increase in the number of tourists and sports enthusiasts visiting the mountain range, with all its deadly consequences. The gendarmes of the PGHM are the only ones authorised to draw up reports after an accident in the mountains,” explains Régis Lavergne. As society becomes more litigious, this judicial police power has taken on its full dimension”.

Working methods have also improved, thanks in particular to the introduction of special courses at the Gendarmerie’s National Ski and Mountaineering Training Centre (CNISAG), set up in Chamonix in 1987. “With its experience and well-honed training, the PGHM has become probably the most effective rescue station in the world, given the difficulty of the environment and the number of interventions”, says the photographer.

The figures bear him out: every year, the gendarmes carry out between 800 and 1000 rescue missions. In 50 years, the base has carried out 21,000 interventions and rescued more than 25,000 people…

A committed photographer

Philippe Poulet’s lens has been following the rescue gendarmes of the PGHM in Chamonix since 1988. With “Secours au pays du Mont-Blanc et en milieu vertical”, he has written his third book on the guardian angels of the void. “It is a subjective camera that has followed these men: it pays tribute to professionals with strong personalities who know they are in danger as soon as the helicopter door closes. You can’t help but admire their commitment, which is devoid of any commercial interest”.