[David]

We were 20 minutes into our 10 day Mont Blanc hike last year when we rounded a corner and saw a group of folks who did not look like casual hikers. They weren't, they were a French mountain rescue team and next to them a group of somewhat horrified hikers. One of their group had just fallen off the mountain and the helicopter we had just heard was lifting him off the mountain. We never heard if he lived or not but it sure made the rest of our hike a little more on edge. We paid special attention to the helicopters on the rest of the trip. Not sure whether they were rescue or sight seeing but all of them were steady as a rock as they flew close the cliff faces.