03 March 2024 9.35pm
Gressoney and Cogne are unreachable. Decisions on reopening on Monday
“We have one meter and 20 centimeters of snow at 1,700 meters above sea level”, explains the mayor of Gressoney-La-Trinite’, Alessandro Girod. In the late afternoon “the Testa Grigia avalanche came down. It involved a square, but there were no cars, as it had already been closed as a precaution”. In the town “we have 2,500-3,000 people. There are 300 residents, the remainder are tourists. Around 200-250 were stranded today and have found accommodation in hotels. At the moment there is electricity, we have food, the shop in the village is able to provide the service, we have diesel, at the moment we are self-sufficient”.
The closure of various sections of road has been ordered, such as in the municipality just further down the valley, Gressoney-Saint-Jean: “We have around 350 people in hotels, and then many second homes. In all we estimate around a thousand tourists, plus to our 760 residents”, explains the mayor, Mattia Alliod. After the closure of the regional road due to the avalanche in Gaby “there were other releases that did not reach the road. It is positive that the slope has started to unload, but there is still a lot of snow that needs to fall. Tomorrow morning we will the point of the situation with the local avalanche commission”.
In Cogne the mayor, Franco Allera, estimates that there are still “400-500” tourists in the town in addition to the “1,400 residents”. Even at the foot of the Gran Paradiso every decision is postponed until tomorrow: “At 7.30 we will meet the avalanche commission and before decreeing the reopening of the road a flyover will be done to understand how much snow has accumulated in the most dangerous gullies”. The road to Valgrisenche, which is isolated, and the upper Valsavarenche are closed due to risks of falling plants due to avalanche danger.
