Dramatic Sunday on the peaks of Ortles (Bolzano), where in the morning a 26-year-old ski mountaineer lost his life during an excursion. The victim is Tom Arent Van de Plasschea trail runner who is an Italian citizen and resident of Trento with Dutch origins: on his mountaineering skis he was performing an excursion to the majestic peak of South Tyrol together with a climbing partner. The accident occurred along the steep Minnigerode gully, at an altitude of around 3,700 metres. The young man had reached the top of the mountain, located at 3,905 meters, just before 9 in the morning and had recently begun the long descent the southern side. According to initial information gathered by rescuers, the probable cause of the accident could be poor visibility due to fog which, at that moment, wrapped around the top. A condition that would have contributed to the ski mountaineer slipping, he fell about 500 meters down the gully.
The alarm was raised by another group of climbers who were nearby and who assisted helpless at the fall of the young man, born in 1999, a Dutch citizen with an Italian passport. The boy, known in the Trentino sports scene, he was a high level athlete and among his successes was mountain running – reports Il Dolomiti – at the end of October he won the ”Sentiero 618”, a pairs race that closes the Trentino mountain running season organized by the Fraveggio Sports Group. Tom Arent Van de Plassche worked in Bolzano at Salewa and he was committed to social issues and environmental protection: for years he had been part of Protect Our Winters Italia, the non-profit organization active in the protection of the natural environment. «Being an athlete and a great mountain lover, Pow offers me the perfect platform to involve as many people as possible in the challenge against the climate crisis – Tom wrote on his profile on the non-profit website -. As head of the Athletes Alliance I help athletes make their voices heard and fight to protect our winters.”
They intervened on site the Solda mountain rescue team promptly arrived with the Pelikan 3 helicopter and the Guardia di Finanza for the surveys. Unfortunately, despite the timely interventions, when the rescuers arrived at the scene of the accident the ski mountaineer had already died. The young man would have lost his life instantly. The body was recovered and transported by air ambulance to Silandro hospital for the necessary autopsy procedures that will allow to exclude an illness and for the necessary bureaucratic formalities. In the meantime, the victim’s hiking companion was assisted and accompanied to the valley.
