Drama in the Alps: Tours to avenge on the tip of the royal!

Drama in the Alps: Tours to avenge on the tip of the royal!

On Friday morning, there was a dramatic avalanche exit in the area of the Königsspitze in the Ortler area in South Tyrol, in which two Italian tourers were recorded. According to OE24 , one of the two men was buried, while the other was unharmed. The avalanche went off in the area of the Ostrinne of the Royal Spire and a helmet was found in the avalanche cone.

The mountain rescue was alerted at 11.18 a.m. While the uninjured person was only torn away a few meters, the rescue workers were unable to find the spilled touring. Olaf Reinstadler, the commander of the Sulden mountain rescue, expressed the assumption that the missing man was probably torn down further. Due to the high risk of other avalanches, the search had to be interrupted shortly after noon. For these reasons, the mountain rescuers will continue the search on Saturday morning if the technical aids that are to be used in the afternoon are unsuccessful.

search action and rescue team

The mountain rescues of Sulden and Prad, the Sulden volunteer fire brigade as well as the emergency medical helicopter Pelikan 1 and Pelikan 3. In addition to the helicopter, the rescuers also use cell phone location and other technical aids to locate the missing person.
rainews reported by the extraordinary warm temperatures that contributed to the interruption of the search.

The two alpinists come from Italy, but not from South Tyrol. This tragic situation underlines the dangers associated with ski tours in the Alps, especially in times with unstable snow conditions.

context for further avalanche accidents

In the region, there have been further avalanche accidents recently. On March 30, 2025, several ski tourers were recorded in the Ultental below the tip of avalanches. A woman was complete and a man was only shaken. Thanks to the quick intervention of the other group members, they could be released quickly. Emergency helicopter Pelikan 3 transported the injured to the hospital in Merano. Südtirol News also reports on another incident in the Pejo Valley, where a group of six ski tours was surprised. There three people were buried, one of them was seriously injured.

These incidents illustrate the persistent dangers in the alpine terrain, especially for ski tourers. The mountain rescues and emergency doctors are on constant alert in order to be able to react quickly to such emergencies.