He had the face of an angel and a magnificent career, he who was only 37 years old. Actor Gaspard Ulliel died on Wednesday the day after a skiing accident.
An investigation has been opened by the prosecution to better understand the circumstances of this tragedy.
A collision at the intersection of two blue runs
Tuesday. At 3:58 p.m., exactly, on a slope in the Rosière ski area, located in the Haute Tarentaise massif, the actor hit a skier. A minute later the trackers intervened to provide first aid. According to the winter sports resort, the accident took place at the intersection of two blue slopes.
The Albertville prosecutor, Anne Gaches, clarified that Gaspard Ulliel had “collided with another skier (…) when he had just turned left, presumably to join his friends who were” on a another track.
The actor was unconscious when help arrived
“When help arrived, Mr. Gaspard Ulliel was motionless, unconscious in the snow,” added the Albertville prosecutor. The other skier escaped without injury, even though the two protagonists fell.
Transported to the Grenoble University Hospital, like Schumacher
Gaspard Ulliel was then airlifted to Grenoble University Hospital. The same place where German Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher was admitted at the end of 2013, hospitalized for six months after a fall against a rock which occurred while he was skiing off-piste with his son in Méribel (Savoie).
It was in this hospital that the actor died the day after his accident.
The actor was not wearing a helmet
As indicated by the Dauphiné Libéré, the actor was not wearing a helmet at the time of the collision. But the Albertville prosecutor, Anne Gaches, clarified that according to her “it would not necessarily have changed things” in the opposite case.
“Not a particularly accident-prone area”
Jérémie Silva, director of the tourist office of La Rosière indicated that the accident had occurred “in good weather on good snow”.
“It’s not a particularly accident-prone area. We are on a blue run, a separation of two blue runs. This is the first time that we have had such a serious accident at this place. »
Why ski accidents are becoming more frequent
Located on the borders of the French and Italian Alps, La Rosière is a Savoyard family resort with reputedly easy slopes, but where the risk of collisions is present, as in Flaine (Haute-Savoie), where a five-year-old British girl died over the weekend after being hit by a 40-year-old man who was skiing at excessive speed.
More and more frequent accidents, if we are to believe Christian Reverbel, vice-president of the association of track directors, who explains to the Parisian: “The number of collisions has been increasing for 30 years because the tracks are better prepared , better groomed, there are fewer bumps that once slowed vacationers down. The equipment has also evolved, it makes skiing more accessible for beginners and allows you to go faster. But everyone does not necessarily control their speed, alas. Many also forget to respect the priority of the downhill skier. »
The investigation to shed light on this accident was entrusted to the Republican Security Company (CRS) of the Alps.