Emergencies in Chamonix

Good to Know

• 112 works from any phone in France, including foreign mobiles with no credit or SIM, and is the safest default number if you're unsure which service you need.
• For a genuine mountain, ski, or climbing emergency in Chamonix, calling 112 or the PGHM Chamonix direct line is the fastest route to the specialist alpine rescue team, rather than a generic ambulance dispatch.
• The older SAIP alert app has been discontinued — don't bother downloading it. France's current public alert system, FR-Alert, sends alerts directly via cell broadcast without needing an app, so it's worth keeping phone alerts/cell broadcasts enabled instead.
• Save the PGHM Chamonix number in your phone before heading into the mountains — cell coverage can be patchy in some valleys, so having the number ready avoids delays.
• For any life-threatening emergency in Chamonix, call 15 (SAMU/ambulance) or 112, not a hospital directly — dispatch will decide whether you go to the Chamonix site (if open) or straight to Sallanches.
• The Chamonix hospital's own emergency/urgent-care unit is only open during peak tourist hours in winter and summer seasons — it is not a round-the-clock ER, and can be closed to the public entirely in shoulder seasons (spring/autumn) or overnight.
• The only genuinely 24/7 emergency department for the valley is at Sallanches, about 25 minutes' drive from Chamonix — worth knowing before you need it, especially for anything happening at night or outside peak season.
• Chamonix's hospital emergency activity is heavily weighted toward mountain trauma and altitude illness (frostbite, hypothermia, acute mountain sickness), reflecting the valley's climbing/skiing population.
• Make sure you have valid travel/health insurance (EHIC/GHIC for eligible Europeans, private insurance for others) before needing care — hospital treatment for non-residents is billed and can be costly.