On the slopes with the ski patrol – Chamonix’s first responders

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Deep, resounding thuds echo up the valley as dawn breaks over the Mont Blanc massif. It’s the sound of controlled avalanche detonations; an unmistakable signal that ski patrol is at work, long before the first lifts hum to life.

On Mont Blanc, as elsewhere in the world, ski patrollers are the first on the mountain and the last to leave. Their work goes far beyond…