Five of six cross-country skiers who went missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend have been found dead, police in the canton of Valais said Monday, with the search still on for the last person.
The group of skiers, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, had left Zermatt Saturday morning with the goal of reaching the town of Arolla, near the Matterhorn mountain, later that day.
But as the group passed close to the Tete Blanche, a mountain peak between Zermatt and Arolla, the region was engulfed in a brutal storm that left the skiers stranded at an altitude of around 11,400ft (3,500 metres).
A member of the group sent a distress call to emergency services around 5pm on Saturday afternoon, authorities said, but helicopters and rescue teams were unable to deploy, such was the ferocity of the storm.
A team was finally able to reach the mountain via helicopter on Sunday evening, police said in a statement, but the skiers had already been missing for more than 24 hours.
The rescue contingent quickly stumbled upon the bodies of five of the six alpine enthusiasts close to the Dent Blanche alpine cabin.
Five of the six skiers are members of the same family from the Swiss canton of Valais, while the sixth person is from the canton of Friborg.
Police have not yet revealed the identities of the skiers who were confirmed dead.
A handout photo made available by Valais Cantonal Police shows Mountain rescuers and helicopters prepare to fly to the Tete Blanche mountain in the Swiss alps mountains, near Sion, Switzerland
Five cross-country skiers who went missing during a ski tour in Switzerland were found dead in the night, while a search was still on for the sixth skier
A helicopter of the Swiss Air Force is seen flying above the Tete Blanche high altitude pass between Zermatt and Arolla, surrounded by Swiss Alps
Attorney General of the Canton of Valais Beatrice Pilloud, head of the Police of the Canton of Valais Christian Varone and director of the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organisation Fredy-Michel Roten attend a press conference by the police in Sion, Switzerland, after five of six cross-country skiers, who went missing in the Swiss Alps over the weekend, have been found dead
The head of Zermatt’s air rescue service Anjan Truffer confirmed that emergency services received a distress signal from one of the skiers at around 5:19pm local time on Saturday.
This, he said, gave rescuers a rough location in the Col de Tete Blanche, whose peak stands at 12,160ft above sea level.
Mr Truffer told Swiss outlet Blick that the weather was so bad that flying in to rescue the skiers simply wasn’t an option.
He said there were ‘very strong winds, heavy snow, high avalanche danger, and zero visibility’ which would leave rescuers ‘dead in two minutes’.
He added that when the group left Zermatt, the bad weather conditions were already known and he believes that the skiers were caught in the storm rather than struck by an avalanche.
With helicopters unable to brave the storm, five rescuers had tried to reach the rough location on foot from Zermatt, but they too were forced to turn back at an altitude of 9,840ft due to the bad weather, according to local media reports.
The chief of the Swiss Mountain Guides Association, Pierre Mathey, told 24 Heures on Sunday afternoon the group may have survived if they had dug a cave in the snow for shelter.
But rescuers late last night discovered five of the six skiers had perished from their exposure to the savage elements.
The group of skiers, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, had left Zermatt Saturday morning with the goal of reaching the town of Arolla later that day
Five of the six skiers are members of the same family, but police have not yet revealed the identities of the bodies found. File image of Zermatt, Switzerland
Rescue authorities announced a search in difficult weather conditions Sunday for six skiers missing. The group set off Saturday on a route between the resort town of Zermatt, at the foot of the Matterhorn, and the village of Arolla, near the border with Italy
‘At around 9:20 pm (2020 GMT) it reached the Tete Blanche sector, where it discovered the bodies of five of the six people who were missing,’ a police statement read.
The search operation for the final skier continued overnight and is still ongoing.
Zermatt is a popular mountain resort renowned for skiing and attracts tourists from around the world.
Tete Blanche in particular is very popular with ski tourers who are attracted by the region’s renowned landscape and the challenging terrain it offers.
The region hosts the esteemed Patrouille des Glaciers race, which sees ski tourers traverse a route from Zermatt through Arolla and on to Verbier.
But the area is notoriously difficult to navigate during periods of poor visibility, and has proven fatal for even highly experienced skiers and mountaineers.
Nearly five years ago, tragedy struck when 14 members from two ski touring parties became disoriented amidst a fierce storm on treacherous slopes.
The ensuing rescue operation endured for almost 21 gruelling hours before reaching the stranded groups.
Seven people died, while the rest were evacuated with varying degrees of injury.