Five out 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 on Monday, with the search still underway for the last person.
The group of skiers, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, had left Zermatt on Saturday morning with the aim of reaching the town of Arolla, near the Matterhorn mountain, later that day.
But as the group passed close to 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 about 11,400 feet (3,500 meters).
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 respond, 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 fell upon the bodies of five of the six alpine enthusiasts near the Dent Blanche alpine hut.
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 Fribourg.
Police have not yet revealed the identities of the skiers who were confirmed dead.
A handout photo provided by the Valais Cantonal Police shows mountain rescuers and helicopters preparing to fly to the Tete Blanche mountain in the Swiss Alps, near Sion, Switzerland, March 10, 2024
Five cross-country skiers who went missing during a ski trip in Switzerland were found dead last night, while the search is still on for the sixth skier
A Swiss Air Force helicopter is seen flying over the Tete Blanche high pass between Zermatt and Arolla, surrounded by the Swiss Alps
Advocate 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 Organization Fredy-Michel Roten attend a press conference of the police in Sion, Switzerland, March 11, 2024 after five out 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 around 17:19 local time on Saturday.
This, he said, gave rescuers a tough spot in the Col de Tete Blanche, whose summit is 12,160 feet above sea level.
Mr Truffer told the Swiss outlet Glance that the weather was so bad that flying in to rescue the skiers was simply not 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 the skiers were caught in the storm rather than hit by an avalanche.
With helicopters unable to withstand the storm, five rescuers had tried to reach the rugged site on foot from Zermatt, but they too were forced to turn back at an altitude of 9,840 feet due to bad weather, according to local media .
This was told by the head of the Swiss Mountain Guides Association, Pierre Mathey 24 Hours Sunday afternoon, the group may have survived if they had dug a cave in the snow for shelter.
But rescuers discovered late last night that five of the six skiers had died due to their exposure to the wild elements.
The group of skiers, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, had left Zermatt on Saturday morning with the aim 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 photo of Zermatt, Switzerland
Rescue authorities announced a search in difficult weather conditions Sunday for six skiers missing. The group set off on 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 21:20 (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 for the last skier continued overnight and is still ongoing.
Zermatt is a popular mountain resort known for skiing and attracts tourists from all over the world.
Tete Blanche in particular is very popular with ski tourists who are attracted by the region’s famous landscape and the challenging terrain it offers.
The region hosts the prestigious Patrouille des Glaciers race, which sees ski tourists traverse a route from Zermatt through Arolla and on to Verbier.
But the area is notoriously difficult to navigate in periods of poor visibility and has proven deadly for even very experienced skiers and mountaineers.
Almost five years ago, tragedy struck when 14 members of two ski touring parties became disoriented in the middle of a violent storm on treacherous slopes.
The subsequent rescue operation lasted almost 21 grueling hours before reaching the stranded groups.
Seven people died, while the rest were evacuated with varying degrees of injuries.