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Deadly Week in the Alps as Sled Crash and Avalanches Kill Four

Alpine rescues were complicated by steep drop-offs, unstable snow, strong wind.

Overview

  • - In Tyrol on New Year’s Day, a couple’s sled left the Rabantalm forest road in a gentle curve and fell about 75 meters, killing a 63-year-old man and critically injuring his 58-year-old wife.
  • - The woman was winched from steep terrain, flown to Lienz and then transferred to Klagenfurt, as 22 mountain rescuers and alpine police completed the recovery and supported the family.
  • - The Rabantalm route is a roughly one‑kilometre, illuminated family run rated “easy,” yet the track borders near-vertical rock and steep forest where a slip can be catastrophic.
  • - On January 2 in northern Italy, three people died in separate avalanches in Valle Maira near Acceglio, Bobbio Pellice near Turin, and the Dolomites, including a German national.
  • - Multiple teams and helicopters responded in Italy, with operations hindered by strong wind and difficult conditions following recent snow, warming and wind-driven loading.