A British family is looking for eyewitnesses after their 12-year-old daughter fell approximately 12 meters (39 feet) from a chairlift in Tignes, France, during a ski holiday three months ago. The incident occurred on March 29, 2026, at around 11:30 a.m. on the Aiguille Rouge chairlift in the French Alps.
According to the mother, Carole Maleczek, the girl became caught when loading the Aiguille Rouge chairlift and was unable to sit down properly as the chair continued moving. The Aiguille Rouge chair is a high-speed six-person Poma chairlift, which was installed in 2022. Maleczek says that despite the family and nearby skiers shouting for the lift to be stopped or reversed, but the lift crew did not respond. Her daughter was then lifted into the air while both parents attempted to hold on to her, before eventually falling from the chairlift onto the slope below. She fell approximately 12 meters, landing on piste below. The lift never stopped, “We then had to sit on the lift up to the top and ski back down to her not knowing if she was alive or dead,” the mother described the traumatic incident.
Meanwhile, skiers passing by found the child unresponsive. Thankfully, an off-duty intensive care nurse was skiing in the area with her family, who immediately realized the 12-year-old was not breathing and cleared her airway and assisted her breathing before mountain rescue arrived, which Maleczek says “undoubtedly saved her life.” According to the mother, “mountain rescue eventually got to her and was airlifted off the mountain and taken to hospital.”
She suffered a fractured cheekbone and multiple broken teeth. “Nobody could believe that she had survived without catastrophic injuries,” Maleczek recounts. The family believes that the fall was partially cushioned by fresh snowfall the night before.
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The incident is now under investigation, and the family are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the event. “We are looking for eye witnesses,” the mother said. “It’s such a shocking incident, and we believe people who saw it may have spoken about it. We are hoping others who were there on the Aiguille Rouge chairlift around 11:30 a.m. on March 29 may be able to help.” The family say they already have contact with a small number of witnesses but are seeking additional accounts to help build a clearer picture of what occurred.
SnowBrains encourages anyone with information to come forward via the publication, and details will be passed on to the family.
Tignes is located in the Savoie region of southeastern France. It is interconnected with Val d’Isère to form the Espace Killy ski area, one of the largest and most famous ski areas in the European Alps. The combined resort offers approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) of groomed slopes. What makes Tignes so special is its lift-accessed off-piste terrain above 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) as well as its glacier skiing at the Grande Motte glacier at over 3,400 meters (11,483 feet), giving it one of the longest and most reliable seasons in the Alps.
Chairlift loading incidents are rare but serious, and resorts rely on both automated systems and lift operator intervention to prevent these types of situations. The Tignes case raises questions about emergency stop procedures during loading-area incidents at the resort.
