The historic La Fourche mountain hut in the Italian Alps collapsed last Thursday, August 25, plummeting 300 meters down. Located at almost four thousand meters of altitude, on the Küffner edge of Monte Maldito, in the Mont Blanc massif, its collapse, fortunately, has not caused personal damage, as the mountain teams that went to the area after knowing the news.
The sinking made it known, the pilot of a helicopter flying over the areaaccording to the Italian Alpine Academic Club (CAAI), which in turn owns the refuge also known as Alberico-Borgna.
Now the remains of the infrastructure are scattered, as can be seen in the images posted on social networks by the mountain guides Vivian Bruchez and Mathieu Navillod. “A piece of history, a collapsed symbol! We will not live on the same mountain as our elders”regrets one of them in a post on Facebook.
According to the media Barrabes, specialized in mountaineering, no need to mourn victims, since the high temperatures of this summer season have not allowed the continuation of the various activities that were carried out there.
Also, these heat waves would have been the cause of the collapse, since they are melting the ground that is usually permanently frozen or frozen (also known as permafrost). An environmental drama that is also being suffered in the Pyrenees. Specifically, on the highest peak of the Franco-Spanish mountain range, the heat made the hardest part of the ice appear, which led the Special Mountain Intervention Rescue Groups (GREIM) of the Benasque Civil Guard to recommend an alternative route. avoiding the passage through the fossil glacier, which this summer has been extremely slippery and dangerous even for experienced mountaineers.