All five German mountaineers reported missing after an avalanche in Italy’s South Tyrol region have been confirmed dead, authorities said on Sunday. The final two victims — a father and his 17-year-old daughter — were discovered by Italian rescue teams in the Ortler mountain range, bringing the grim search to an end.
The avalanche struck on Saturday afternoon at around 4 p.m. near the 3,545-meter Vertainspitze peak in the Ortler region, one of the highest and most challenging areas in the Italian Alps. The climbers, who were ascending at an altitude of approximately 3,200 meters, were swept away when a large snow mass suddenly broke loose about 100 meters below the summit.
Three of the climbers’ bodies were recovered on Saturday, while rescue teams were forced to suspend operations after nightfall. “By Saturday evening, there was no longer any hope of finding the remaining two alive,” said Olaf Reinstadler, a spokesperson for the mountain rescue service. The search resumed at first light on Sunday, when the bodies of the father and daughter were located.
Reinstadler said the pair had “certainly” fallen around 200 meters when the avalanche hit. “The circumstances indicate that the fall was fatal,” he confirmed.
Two other climbers, both men, survived the disaster and were airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Bolzano. Their conditions were not immediately disclosed.
According to preliminary findings, the five victims were part of a larger group that had split into three rope teams — one team of three and two teams of two — each climbing independently. Investigators are still determining what triggered the avalanche, though Reinstadler noted that the overall avalanche risk on Saturday was not considered high.
“It’s possible that heavy snowdrifts caused the avalanche,” he said, explaining that newly fallen snow had not yet bonded firmly to the older layers beneath. Fresh snow had blanketed the region only days earlier, while daytime temperatures remained unusually mild for this time of year.
Rescuers said the climbers appeared to have been taken completely by surprise. The avalanche occurred late in the day, when visibility was decreasing, and the group was traversing a steep, icy passage with crampons and ice axes — conditions that left them little chance to escape. Witnesses from a nearby vantage point saw the snow slide and immediately alerted authorities.
The north face of the Ortler region is considered one of the Alps’ most demanding routes, often described as a “high alpine ice tour” requiring advanced technical skills, ropes, and full climbing gear.
Italian officials have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy, as the mountaineering community mourns the loss of five experienced climbers caught in the season’s first major avalanche.
