"I was suspended in the void for two hours, then my strength failed, my arms gave way and I let myself go. I thought I was going to die. Before falling into the void my thoughts went to my wife and my dog".
Cristian Garavelli, 30, from Bergamo, has been hospitalized at the Le Chal hospital, in Haute-Savoie in France since Monday evening, after having fallen over 30 meters from the Dente del Gigante, on the Mont Blanc massif.
The mountaineer was with a climbing partner when they got stuck at 4,000 meters above sea level. Rescue was slowed down by bad weather. "We were rappelling to get to safety - he says - but in that section the bolt is all shifted to the left. I couldn't get close. There was wind, it was strong. I tried them all, absolutely all of them. I pulled myself up with my arms, I had the machard, but then it didn't hold anymore. I held on with all the strength I had in my arms, I took the ice ax out of my backpack to fix it on the wall, I lacked strength. climbing partner could not help me. I was suspended in the air for two hours, I was exhausted and I felt faint ". Eventually he fell along the vertical wall, to stop in the middle of the rocks.When the rescuers arrived on the scene he was unconscious, injured, but alive. "A miracle", say the doctors. He has suffered various traumas and is now out of danger.
