Moment French skier falls into massive crevasse in Swiss Alps

Heartbreaking footage shows the moment an expert skier fell into a crevasse that suddenly formed while skiing in the Swiss Alps – before jamming his skis into the side of the seemingly bottomless sinkhole to escape certain death.

Filmed in the first person by the anonymous member of the French ski group Les Powtos, the truly terrifying video was posted Tuesday and has already racked up hundreds of thousands of views.

It shows how the veteran skier, who asked to remain anonymous, while following a deft path on the famously difficult Meije mountain, stumbles upon the gap and within seconds finds himself plunging into total darkness.

It begins with him sliding down the steep slope of the 4,000-foot mountain while taking in the surrounding landscape – before the hole suddenly forms beneath him.

Fortunately, the unnamed skier – who “has a lot of experience and has been practicing mountaineering and ski mountaineering for a long time” – survived and had a GoPro mounted which captured the ordeal. Bystanders comment on how lucky he is to have escaped with his life.

Within seconds, however, the hole suddenly forms in the snow directly below the Frenchman – who had mounted a GoPro that captured the ensuing ordeal, and how he pushes skis into the side of the seemingly bottomless sinkhole to escape certain death

“Fortunately,” the group’s Instagram page wrote on Tuesday of being pulled out with a rope and harness by his friends, “we were all well rested.”

The group spoke of how laborious they were in rescuing him – using crampons, picks and shovels to “get him all the way out.”

The operation reportedly took hours, but thankfully the skier was brought to safety – and from the icy depths of the glacier.

But the images left countless commenters online speechless, and will likely make others hesitant to ever trust the structural integrity of snow again.

The footage lasts just 22 seconds and begins relatively peacefully, with first-person panoramic views of the surrounding mountains.

While skiing unimpeded, the anonymous man stumbles upon the deceptive hole within seconds, with the crevasse popping up out of nowhere and completely enveloping the skilled skier.

But as the snow and mainland crumble around him, the Frenchman manages to keep his cool – he calmly uses his skis to slow his fall as he slides down a near-vertical slope into what appears to be an endless pit. are.

“Oh le con!” you can hear him scream as he slides down the steep glacier, a phrase that roughly translates to “I’m an idiot” in English.

The footage lasts just 22 seconds and begins with Powtos skiing unimpeded, before coming to the deceptive hole within seconds

The crevice materials seem to come out of nowhere and completely envelop the experienced skier

But as the snow and mainland crumbled around him, the Frenchman somehow managed to keep his cool, the video shows

He survived by calmly using his skis to slow his fall as he slides down a near vertical slope – into what appears to be an endless pit

The truly terrifying video was posted last Tuesday and has already garnered hundreds of thousands of views

As the video shows, his strategy to slow his fall somehow works – leaving him barely able to find his balance on a thin ledge.

At that point, after clamping his skis in a small crevice, he can slow down to a complete stop.

The skier then peers into the pit that came so close to his life, and into the darkness below.

With the help of his companions, the group told DailyMail.com on Friday, the skier was able to use picks and crampons to climb out — luckily he had the tools in his backpack.

Talk about a close call.