INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
An 11-year-old British boy who was buried under heaps of snow for 30 minutes thanked his father through frozen tears as he was
rescued.Footage of the dramatic incident in the Chamonix region of the French Alps, at the base of Mont Blanc, showed young Fox Campbell
being buried near a piste - a path in the snow marked for skiing.The La Chamoniarde rescue team said Fox was "very lucky" to survive the
ordeal, having been pulled from the snow half an hour after he went under.Image:Fox was rescued after half an hour under a heap of snow
Pic: La Chamoniarde
The footage posted on the La Chamoniarde Facebook page was recorded by a camera on Fox's helmet, and showed him
plummeting down a hole between two pistes before being covered by snow.Fox, who is a member of the Freeriders Mountain Ski Club, had tried
to hurdle over the gap - and can be heard struggling and shouting for his dad Gillon after falling down.His father had fallen behind after
waiting for Fox's younger brother to catch up.After losing sight of Fox, Mr Campbell and his other son caught up with his wife expecting him
to be with her.Image:Fox tried to avoid the hole but fell in
Pic: La Chamoniarde
Image:Footage showed Fox being buried by snow
Pic: La Chamoniarde
He said: "I thought my son was in front with her, but he wasn't
So we went up the lift, but he still wasn't there."And so I decided that I should just ski back the way I came and figure out where he was
I skied back down into the gully and I was going along and something was different
The snow was different, it was crumblier on the ground."Eventually Fox was found thanks to a GPS tracking device he was carrying, which was
part of his safety equipment along with a backpack and shovel.It caused Mr Campbell's transceiver to start beeping, telling him "someone was
in the snow really close by", and he shouted for help before rescuers arrived on the scene.Image:Gillon Campbell pulled his son from the
Pic: La Chamoniarde
The video posted by La Chamoniarde shows them digging desperately to find Fox, before his blue helmet comes into view
and he is pulled to safety by his father.Mr Campbell said: "I won't forget the moment I got to hold him
But he was alive."One of the rescuers in the video said Fox had been under the show "for about 30 minutes" and that the chance of surviving
such an ordeal was "usually small".Image:Fox is an experienced skier for his age
Pic: La Chamoniarde
The video is now being used in a bid to help other skiers stay safe on the slopes."Beware of a false sense of security
when skiing close to the piste," says the caption, which adds that skiing off-piste comes with dangers including "avalanches, icy or hard
snow, rocky outcrops, cliffs and holes"."There are no signs to find your bearings, and no one to alert the ski-patrol
Fox was very lucky."Image:The rescuers have warned of the danger of skiing away from the designated paths
Pic: La Chamoniarde
It adds: "Transceiver, probe and shovel are essential but do not prevent an avalanche."To ski off-piste, you need to
know more than just how to ski!"You must be aware of the dangers, that way you know how to avoid them."
