Emergency services call for vigilance. In two days, five mountaineers or hikers suffered fatal falls in the Alps, especially in the Mont-Blanc massif, we learned on Friday June 28 from French and Italian emergency services.
A Czech, a Pole and a Taiwanese are among those who died in the French Alps, and one victim was recorded on the Italian side, according to these sources.
The Val d’Aosta Alpine Rescue Service explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that it had intervened on Wednesday with a climber who had fallen on the Miage glacier, at an altitude of around 2,800 metres on the southern slope of the Mont Blanc massif in Italy. “The alarm was raised by his companions who saw him slide into a ravine. The climber is dead, his comrades are unharmed.”they said.
Shortly before 7:30 a.m. Thursday, a climber from Taiwan, “around thirty years old”fell several hundred meters while moving at more than 3,000 meters on the north face of the Aiguille du Midi, according to the Chamonix high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM).
At the end of the day, around 6 p.m., a Polish national of the same age group died in the same circumstances in the Goûter corridor, at an altitude of 3,500 meters, according to the same source.
Heavy snowfall
The same day, a Czech hiker went off a trail and slipped down a grassy slope, at more than 2,000 meters above sea level in the Col de la Croix-du-Bonhomme area, south of the Mont-Mont-Bonhomme massif. White, according to Captain Stéphane Narbaud, deputy commander of the PGHM of Savoie.
On Friday, his teams found in Haute-Maurienne the lifeless body of a hiker who probably fell the day before, also slipping on a grassy slope, he added.
“We are seeing a lot of accidents in recent days because there has been heavy snowfall at altitude this winter and there is still a significant amount of snow at over 2,000 metres”explains the captain.
“It blocks part of the paths. When people try to go around them, they get lost and slip.”he continues, calling “to be very careful this year”.
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The Haute-Savoie prefecture also warned on Friday of storm disturbances that could cause heavy precipitation, gusts of wind and electrical activity on Saturday. “It would be reasonable to postpone your plans for mountain outings in order to benefit from conditions more conducive to the practice of mountaineering and outdoor activities”she emphasizes.
