Drama as three Italians fall to their deaths on the Meije

Tragedy on the 'normal' route of the aretes de Meije this week as three Italian alpinist friends fell more than 400m to their death mid-morning on Tuesday.

The group, all from Turin, had left the refuge du Promontaire at around 04:00 to do the Meije arretes traverse. At around 11:00 the three alpinists, who were well-equipped and roped together, had reached the glacier Carre at 3400m.

It's at this point that the incident happened and all three climbers fell, with the bodies being found 400m below. Although there were no direct witnesses to the fall, a guide who was in the area heard a loud noise and then spotted the three bodies.

Rescuers were called out to the scene and the bodies of the three men aged 37, 33 and 29 were recovered by the rescue helicopter. Given that the weather at the time of the accident was good and the group were on a section that is not considered technically challenging, the cause of the accident is far from clear.

Hypotheses being investigated are that the rope was too tight, so when one fell, the other two were immediately carried away too, unable to stabilise the fall. It may also be that the path was slippy, as there was new snow at 3400m on Monday.

As the bodies of the three men are repatriated, the investigation into the cause of the accident continues.

Source : dauphine libere