by Tourists die in record numbers in the Italian Alps when the increasing heat drives inexperienced hikers into the cool but dangerous mountains.
The large number of visitors are folded to the Alps and Dolomites this year when Italy was baked at temperatures of more than 40 ° C.
However, these are often beginners with low knowledge of the mountain conditions and wore insufficient clothing and shoes.
So far, more than 80 hikers have died this year, many of them slipped and fall into death in steep paths. The main summer break in August is not even in progress.
Tre Cime di Lavaredo Mountain in the Dolomites is a popular place for hikers and tourists
“I can’t remember a summer like this with so many deaths,” said Maurizio Dellantonio, the national director of the Italian alpine rescue.
“We had 83 deaths and five people who were only missing in the first month of the summer vacation. That is almost three deaths a day. We carry out 20 percent more rescues compared to average.”
Mr. Dellantonio said that a young Italian cook ended his evening shift in a restaurant last week, went straight to the mountains and started a hike to the top of a summit called Cima Palla Bianca, 11,800 feet above sea level.
In the early morning, he reached a height of 10,200 feet until he cold cold and called the emergency services. When the rescuers reached him, they found that he was wearing a few coaches and rather proper hiking boots.
Italian newspapers were full of pictures of overcrowding in the mountains, including a photo of hundreds of Walkers, who turned to the top of a summit called Seceda in the German -language province of South Tyrol of the Dolomites for a cable car.
“There are people everywhere; the hiking trails are full. Everything started in June when the schools broke down. They cannot breathe in the lowlands due to the heat. The weather is ideal in the mountains. The weather changes,” Mr. Dellantonio told Corriere Della Sera Zeitung.
Liam Rezac wandered with his family and is said to have slipped and fell into death
Sixty percent of the deaths were hikers, while the rest of the climbers, mountain bikers and paragliders were. “There are people among the hikers who are not in good condition, but they still go into the mountains. Many people do not know their own limits,” he said.
Tourists who venture into the mountains are not only unprepared and daring – they are often ungrateful. “Half of the people we save refuse to pay the costs for the company. Even if we saved their lives,” he said.
The youngest victim has so far been a 15-year-old French boy. The teenager, which was called Liam Rezac from Brittany, wandered with his family in the Val d’Aosta region in northern Italy last week. When his parents complained that they were tired, he decided to get ahead alone. But he lost himself and is said to have slipped at an altitude of 9,350 feet and fell into death.
Social media is also responsible for the hybris of the people who lure them to places and heights that go beyond their skills.
“Someone publishes a photo online and writes: ‘I made it to the summit.’ The next day, other people will try, even if they are properly prepared.
But the people who are dying don’t pay enough respect for them, ”said Dellantonio.
While there have long been against over -tourism in places such as Venice, Rome and Florence, the anger is now spreading to the mountains.
The words “tourists go home” were crumbled on a rock in the popular Tre Cime di Lavaredo
Last year the words “tourists go home” were scribbled on a rock at the popular Tre Cime di Lavaredo Mountain Masf in the Dolomites. In February of this year, the words “too much” were written with red aerosolf paint in the snow at the entrance to a cable car in the Alpe di -Sisisi ski area, also in the Dolomites.
“We need new regulations,” said Michil Costa, an environmentalist and hotelier who lives in the Dolomites. “The mountain passes for traffic should be closed in summer. The number of hotel beds must be limited. We are dead without brakes (on Uppourism). The effects of mass tourism destroy exactly the places that see tourists.”
Violent storms that are due to climate change create violent downpours that make damage paths and dangerous.
Inexperienced hikers do not properly check the weather or take into account the local conditions.
One of the recent deaths was Ugo Fattore, a 59-year-old architect from Venice, who died in the Dolomites after a fall in a valley called Val Pramper.
Gioele Fortina died after he was equipped and fell out of a path
In the Piedmont region, at the western end of the Italian Alps, a 21-year-old hiker named Gioele Fortina died after he slipped out of one way. As an enthusiastic hiker, he worked on a lavender farm.
A German woman died last week after he came across 300 feet on rocks at a height of 7,200 feet near the village of Gressoney-Saint-Jean in Val d’Aosta.
At the beginning of this month, an official of the Carabinieri police died, who was an enthusiastic alpinist after falling 160 feet while climbing in Piedmont. The 55 -year -old Enrico Bolla had reported that he had had years of climbing experience.
The list of deaths today comprises an Australian jumper James, James, who had jumped from a mountain summit in the Dolomites during a base jump competition.
Mr. Howland, who came from Perth in Western Australia, were paid tributes. His wife Candice said: “James was a very respected member of the basic community after doing sports for over 10 years. His family meant everything for him.”
