Two tragic high-altitude accidents claimed the lives of three climbers who fell during a climb in the Aosta Valley on Sunday 14 July. The first fall occurred in the Val Ferret, between the town of Courmayeur and the Mont Blanc massif. Two climbers fell while roped, probably due to an anchor breaking. A third climber who remained on the wall managed to raise the alarm and was rescued at an altitude of 3,500 metres by the Aosta Valley Alpine Rescue helicopter. The bodies of the other two climbing companions were later found dead. In the same hours, a few kilometres away, a climber fell on the Mont Blanc massif, just below the Gonella refuge. His body has not been found, but rescuers believe that its recovery is practically impossible due to the nature of the place, and the man's fate is almost certain. “Unfortunately, the dynamics of the event leave little hope for his survival,” says the Aosta Valley Alpine Rescue Service. In this case too, the alarm was raised by the climbing partners, who remained unharmed. The climber, an Italian, slipped while descending with the group the Italian route of Mont Blanc, towards the Gonella refuge (3,071 metres). The man is said to have slipped along a channel and then failed to stop his fall, which continued to the terminal crevasse discovered in the glacier below. Rescuers found his ice axe and other materials, but the recovery of the victim's body, they say, is considered impossible due to the nature of the place.
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