After hiking up about 3000' and across a mountainside, we were having lunch at this little farm that sells hot chocolate, sandwiches, etc. Suddenly a helicopter came whuffing up from Martigny (the city in the valley 5000' below).
We wondered whether it was to rescue someone. Nope - this is how the farm gets its firewood.
The helicopter made about 20 runs, going a few hundred feet across the mountain, picking up large pieces of trees that had been cut earlier, and dropping them about 20 feet from us. We watched for probably 45 minutes, and I took about a dozen photos, before it was time to continue hiking.
This is the first shot of four in a series showing how they did it.
This one shows how the pilot dropped off his helpers, who then hooked the large chunks of tree to the cable to be flown over to near where I was sitting.
I was amazed that the pilot would hover so close to the hillside. The helicopter is level; note the angle of the skids to the ground to see how steep it was. The blades weren't very far from the hillside in front.
I met a helo pilot who was involved in an accident in Greenland, where skiers were flown to remote mountain peaks for extreeme skiing. One skiier was injured and one of the helicopters went in to get him, also on a steep slope, but with one of the skids close to the snow (at a 90 deg angle from your shot, that is). When someone got off the shifting balance made the blades take the snow, and the chopper crashed, the turbine engine flew through the air, still turning and slammed down right next to the injured skiier. The pilot who I talked to was the one from the other chopper who then came in to pick everyone up.
EDIT: The helicopter that crashed landed on an improvised landing pad, the one that came in afterwards landed on skid on the hill ... see link below, one of them is a drawing.
So it is serious business to approach slopes like that, takes special training and skill I would presume!
Those rotors look perilously close to the grass! Maybe the pilot does a grass cutting job on the side! It's amazing. In a country whose topography is at 45 degrees to the rest of the world, I guess they have to make up their own rules. Great shot. Lucky occasion too.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
