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Six Ice Climbers Die in Europe from Collapsing Ice

Six ice climbers were killed on Thursday in separate incidents in Italy and France after ice collapsed from above or around them. Authorities said the sun and a sudden rise in temperatures are blamed for the ice breaking apart.

The four climbers killed in Italy were climbing in Gressony-Saint-Jean, in the Val d’Aosta the border with Switzerland, when some of the climb fell. A fifth climber survived because the ice broke away below him said the head of the Val d’Aosta Alpine rescue service, Adriano Favre. For more information on the ice climbing in Gressony, visit here.

In the French Alps, two men were killed near the town of La Grave when ice fell from above on them, Julien Michon of the mountain rescue service in Briancon told the media. These fatalities came four days after four snowboarders died in an avalanche near the French Alps resort of Tignes. The avalanche was about 100 metres wide and 400 metres long.

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