Three Italians who were training to be mountain guides in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy were killed by an avalanche on Thursday. Their bodies were recovered on Friday. A well-known 39-year-old ski tourer from the northern Italian mountain town of Bormio was also among the fatalities. The other two victims are a 44-year-old ski instructor and a 37-year-old police officer.
The fatalities completed a regional course to become mountain guides. The avalanche tore a rope team from the mountain guide course in the Rhemes valley. According to the media, the leader of the rope team, a mountain guide from the Aosta Valley, was able to save himself and sound the alarm.
According to French media reports, the ski tourers were hit by the masses of snow on the Punta Goletta summit (Pointe de la Golette). The three course participants were then missing under the snow masses. The 49-year-old mountain guide, who survived the avalanche, was taken to the emergency room, where his condition was rated “not worrying”.
The rescue operation was difficult because of the bad weather, which prevented the dispatch of helicopters from both French and Italian sides to the scene of the accident. Last Sunday, six people died in an avalanche on the Armancette glacier on the Mont Blanc massif.