Since the beginning of summer, on June 21, almost 100 people have lost their lives in the mountains. An average that touches the three deaths a day. Numbers from war bulletin, which tell a season already defined by Alpine Rescue as one of the most tragic in recent years. And the calendar says that summer is not over yet.
Behind these numbers there are not just fatality. There is also lightness and improvisation. The boom of mountain tourism – exploded in the last five years – brings thousands of unprepared people to altitude, often attracted more by the promise of a spectacular photo for social media than by the awareness of the environment they are facing. “Almost 90% of the visitors are not registered in the Italian Alpine Club and therefore have not followed preparatory courses. There are too much improvisation: people who go up to altitude in sneakers, in shorts or with unsuitable clothing, without water supplies”, reported to Skytg24 Simone Alessandrini of the National Alpine Rescue Corps.
Never as today the mountain is accessible: equipped shelters, navigation apps, cable car that lead to altitude in a few minutes. Still, precisely this accessibility generates the illusion that do not serve preparation, prudence and training. Forget that the mountain is a ruthless ecosystem, where a stone that gives up, a sudden storm or dehydration can transform a tragedy trip.
This is demonstrated by the last episode that took place on the Mont Blanc massif, where Davide Migliorino, 36 years old, fell due to a rock that suddenly detached himself. A moment that marks the difference between life and death. And it was not the only case: only on the weekend of Ferragosto the Monte Rosa and the Aviolo saw other victims, affected by bad weather or by long strokes exposed.
Rescuers to the street
There is another face of the tragedy that rarely finds space: that of the rescuers. Men and women who, voluntarily or for service, risk their lives in turn to tear hikers and mountaineers to the embrace of the mountain. Often they are forced into extreme missions, such as the giant’s intervention, always on white, where an mountaineer has remained suspended in the void and was recovered with maneuvers at the limit.
Behind each helicopter, behind every consortium that rises to help those who have not calculated the risks, there is the effort, fear and frustration of those who find themselves endangering themselves because of the imprudence of others. Yet too often the public debate is concentrated only on the victims, forgetting the psychological and physical impact that these save leave in the rescuers.
The lightness that weighs everyone
It is in this imbalance that the most bitter reflection is played. The mountain is not an open -air gym to face with the same spirit with which you choose a walk in the city. Every step, every choice, every descent must deal with unpredictable variables and with a rule that admits no exceptions: up there, improvising means putting at risk not only their lives, but also that of those who run to save you.
A summer not to be forgotten
The vice -president of the Alpine Rescue, Roberto Bolza, summarized the situation on Il Dolomiti with simple but hard words: “More and more people go to the top to escape from the heat. And therefore more people, more accidents”. The logic is ruthless and the numbers confirm it: over one hundred dead since the beginning of summer, 20% more than 2024.
Don’t you want to lose our news?
