Accidents in the mountains, 26 year old dies overwhelmed by an avalanche in Valtellina. A mountaineer loses his life in Valle d’Aosta

A 26-year-old boy lost his life on Thursday after being swept away by an avalanche in the municipal area of ​​Valfurva, in Alta Valtellina, in Lombardy. The accident occurred between the Colombo bivouac and the top of Cevedale, at around 3,700 meters above sea level. In Valle d’Aosta, however, again on April 25th, a mountaineer […]

A 26-year-old man lost his life on Thursday after being hit by a Avalanche in the municipal area of Valfurvain Alta Valtellina, in Lombardy. The accident occurred between the Colombo bivouac and the top of Cevedale, at around 3,700 meters above sea level. In Valle d’AostaHowever, again on April 25, a 47-year-old French mountaineer died slipping in a steep channel in the Gran Paradiso massif. The accident occurred in the Herbetet area, a peak which culminates at 3,778 metres. Was a Friend, who had no further news of the man, to raise the alarm for his failure to return to the single rescue centre. The body, crampons at the foot, was identified in the evening by the Aosta Valley Alpine Rescue Service, who intervened by helicopter. The man had left alone from the town of Tignetin Valsavarenche, where the Forestry Corps found his car still parked.

The young 26 year old was instead part of a group of nine people, all Italian. According to initial findings, the group had split into two groups. Five descended from one side, while another four descended from the normal Punta Cevedale route, at 3,350 metres. Three of these were kept further to the left, while the fourth was further to the right, causing the Avalanche who overwhelmed and killed him. Once the rescuers arrived on site, they found him lifeless under the mass of snow. The helicopters from Elisondrio and Elibolzano brought the teams back to base after recovering the victim’s body. The Sondrio Prosecutor’s Office, informed of the accident, entrusted the investigation to the Sagf soldiers of Bormio.

The people who were with him immediately asked for help and began self-rescue procedures. The first to help him was Brother. Thanks to the Artva signal he managed to locate the point where he had remained buried, one and a half meters under the snow. He dug with the shovel and with his hands together with two other friends who were with him, without ever stopping until help arrived. When they pulled him out of the avalanche, Matteo Fornaciari, student from Assago, in the province of Milan, was already dead. The detachment had a front of one thirty meters; this is a probable avalanche of windy snow (wind slabs), which fell on the shoulder that descends from Cevedale towards the Val Cedec area.