Ten centimeters of fresh snow on the north face of Monviso, in the night between Sunday and today.
Centimeters that were probably at the origin of the avalanche which, this morning, just before 8, overwhelmed four ski mountaineers, engaged along the Coolidge gully, one of the most evocative, but also the most dangerous, places in the Monviso massif, at the highest altitudes of this mountain, which almost exceeds 3,800 meters of altitude.
The accident occurred over 2,500 meters above sea level, in the upper Po Valley. The avalanche did not allow the ski mountaineers to reach safety.
It was a matter of moments.
The snow mass overwhelmed three of them, dragging them downstream for over a hundred metres, while the fourth was only grazed.
The climbers involved are of foreign nationality, three French and one English, all under the age of thirty.
They immediately raised the alarm on the emergency numbers.
Two of the overwhelmed ski mountaineers managed to free themselves from the snow that had partially blocked them, then, together with the third member of the team, they assisted the fourth, buried by the avalanche.
It was traced thanks to probes and Artva, the electronic device that allows for the identification of any persons buried by an avalanche through an acoustic radio signal;
then, freed with the shovels that the young men had with them.
In the meantime, the rescue machine was activated quickly and a 118 helicopter, carrying the medical team and a member of the mountain rescue team, reached the accident area with the 118 emergency helicopter. approach turned out to be more complicated than expected due to the strong wind at high altitudes, but the helicopter managed, after a few attempts, to position itself in the accident area and hoist the four ski mountaineers on board.
The rescue made it possible to avoid sending a team from the ground, which in the meantime was already ready to be transferred to the area by fire brigade helicopter.
Three of the four ski mountaineers (two French, aged 24 and 27, and a British, aged 24) were hospitalised, but are not in serious condition.
A month ago, on 9 March, in the nearby Maira valley, also in the Cuneo area, a 50-year-old Swedish mountain guide died, overwhelmed by an avalanche;
on the same day, in Pian Munè, in the Po valley, a hiker had been run over and buried by a detachment of snow.
He had been freed and rescued by fellow hikers.
Moderate risk of avalanches in the Cottian Alps with the strong possibility of detachment of the layers of fresh snow, especially on the steepest slopes was the content of the bulletin of the regional agency for the environment.