{"id":36588,"date":"2026-03-22T08:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/36588\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T08:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T08:45:07","slug":"25-skiers-caught-in-avalanche-at-val-ridanna-italy-killing-2-with-3-seriously-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/36588\/","title":{"rendered":"25 Skiers Caught in Avalanche at Val Ridanna, Italy, Killing 2 With 3 Seriously Injured"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Val\"ValThe huge Val Ridanna avalanche seen from helicopter. | Photo: LaPresse<\/a><\/p>\n

An avalanche<\/a> at Val Ridanna, South Tyrol, on Saturday morning, March 21, killed two ski tourers and injured five others, three of them seriously, after the snow slid without warning and struck a group of 25 people all on the same face, according to Italian news agency ANSA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The slide struck at around 11:40 a.m. on the \u201cHohe Ferse\u201d (known in Italian as the Tallone Grande, or Great Heel), a 2,669-meter (8,756-feet) peak that straddles the ridge between Val Ridanna and Val di Racines in Alto Adige. The snow<\/a> struck the tourers at an elevation of 2,445 meters (8,022 feet). The final toll, confirmed by the Bolzano Emergency Coordination Center, currently stands at two dead, three seriously injured, and two with minor injuries. Of the 25 ski tourers caught on the slope, most were only grazed by the slide.<\/p>\n

\"Rescuers\"RescuersRescuers on the scene at the Val Ridanna avalanche, as seen from the air. | Photo: LaPresse<\/p>\n

Two of the tourers were killed in the avalanche and were extracted from the debris. A third, identified as a woman from Brescia, was among the most critically injured, and was flown by the Austrian rescue helicopter Christophorus directly to the University Hospital in Innsbruck, reports Sky TG24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The response was one of the largest avalanche rescue operations seen in the region in years. Six helicopters and roughly 100 rescuers were deployed, drawn from the South Tyrol Mountain Rescue Service, the Bergrettung, the Alpine Rescue Corps of the Guardia di Finanza (SAGF), and Austrian Mountain Rescue, reports Il Dolimito<\/a>. A coordination base camp was established in Val Ridanna to manage the operation, with technical support from Tyrolean responders across the border. The injured were transported to multiple hospitals in the area.<\/p>\n

\"Probe\"ProbeProbe line at the Val Ridanna avalanche. | Photo: LaPresse<\/p>\n

From the Italian side, the response included three Pelikan helicopters, the Aiut Alpin, and the Guardia di Finanza aircraft, alongside approximately 80 rescuers drawn from across the Upper Isarco Valley. Hospitals in Vipiteno, Bressanone, Merano, and Bolzano were placed on alert, along with the Innsbruck operations center. Authorities requested both intensive care beds and access to ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a form of advanced life support, according to Virgilio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All 25 tourers in the group were equipped with ARTVA transceivers, claims LaPresse<\/a>. The 25 ski tourers belonged to several different groups who happened to be on the slope simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\"Avalanche\"AvalancheAvalanche forecast for the day. | Image: Meteo Trentino<\/p>\n

The avalanche danger rating for Saturday, published by Meteo Trentino<\/a>, was Level 2 \u201cModerate\u201d on a scale of five. The bulletin warned that wind-packed snow and old snow with persistent weak layers required close attention.<\/p>\n

Nine days earlier, on March 12, South Tyrol had observed the 10th anniversary of the catastrophic Monte Nevoso avalanche near Riva di Tures, which killed six people, the deadliest avalanche disaster in the province\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s event adds to a winter season already marked by significant avalanche fatalities across the Alps. Investigators and rescue personnel have not yet released information on the nationalities of the victims or the precise triggering cause of the slide. Authorities continue to urge mountain users to consult local avalanche bulletins before venturing onto high-altitude terrain, particularly on slopes with loaded or wind-affected snow.<\/p>\n

\"Alto\"AltoS\u00fcdtirol\/Alto Adige, Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The huge Val Ridanna avalanche seen from helicopter. | Photo: LaPresse An avalanche at Val Ridanna, South Tyrol,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,902,309],"class_list":{"0":"post-36588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alps","8":"tag-alps","9":"tag-avalanche","10":"tag-italy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116271954318652365","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}