Avalanches kill 7 in Italian Alps
Wednesday December 30, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

An avalanche hit the rescue workers as they were searching for 2 missing climbers in the Lasties valley in the northern region of Trentino-Alto Adige in the Dolomites last weekend.

The bodies have all been recovered.

The German teenager died when he was caught in a avalanche while snowboarding with two friends in the Italian Alps.

They took a short cut between 2 marked runs near Malga Madriccio.

The other 2 were rescued by the ski patrol. None was wearing or carrying safety equipment

Rainfall has increased the chances of avalanches in the Alps, making the slopes away from the ski pistes especially dangerous.

Everyone is being urged to be cautious as, apart from the rain, there is a weak layer in the snowpack in many parts of the Alps that makes it even more dangerous.

A British man died in Chamonix on Christmas day. Nigel Jackson, 43, was only caught in a small avalanche as he skied between 2 pistes in the La Tour area of the ski area.

Danger flagHe was on holiday with 3 friends and the rescue services were alerted when he failed to return home on Christmas Day.

His body was found the following day after the search was called off at nightfall.

2 people were buried, by an avalanche, last week in PlanetSKI's home resort of Verbier.

One was partially buried and the other was found by a passing skier who used his transceiver to locate the person.

Today one of our reporters saw people ducking under ropes and sking into areas that were potentially dangerous in Verbier.

Meanwhile back in Italy a government minister has criticised people who take unnecessary risks, get into trouble and then put the lives of the members of the rescue services in danger.

Meanwhile in Scotland a series of avalanches have killed 2 people and caught 3 others; see the story here.

For our report on the first Swiss avalanche death of the winter earlier this month see this PlanetSKI story

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