Avalanche in Sestriere, two mountaineers missing
Share
08 February 2021The recovery of the bodies of the two ski mountaineers missing in the upper Val di Susa area is being completed this afternoon.
The Alpine Rescue therefore confirmed that Carlo Alberto 'Cala' Cimatti and his descent companion, Patrick Negro, from Pragelato, did not survive the avalanche that swept them in the Sestriere area.
After the non-return call was launched in the late afternoon to the carabinieri of
Sestriere
the technicians of the Piedmontese Alpine and Speleological Rescue have identified with binoculars an avalanche release under the Col Chalvet, along the slope that descends on the Argentera Valley, in the municipality of Sauze di Cesana (Turin).
The 118 helicopter ambulance was sent to the site with the technician and the avalanche dog unit of the Alpine Rescue on board who were winched at the point of detachment and soon identified the signal of the Artva (Apparatus for the search of the overwhelmed by avalanche) that the two ski mountaineers wore.
In the meantime, the air ambulance managed to make 2 rotations carrying upstream two mixed teams of the civilian mountain rescue and the financial police mountain rescue, before returning to base for the arrival of darkness.
With the use of probes,
the bodies of the two ski mountaineers were identified under more than 2 meters of snow
, at the base of an avalanche that went down to the valley for about 200 meters along a channel.
After a demanding excavation work, the bodies were unearthed and loaded onto the toboggan for transport to the valley, which was attended by a team of technicians who came on foot with skis and skins.