Two climbers freeze to death on Matterhorn

Didn’t someone say all snow would be melted of the peak of the Alps by now?

7 Aug 2016 – The two climbers who called from a cell phone requesting a helicopter rescue have been found buried under a snowdrift on the 4,478-meter mountain after a massive storm trapped them on a perilous, narrow snowfield in the dead of night.

When the helicopter was finally able to land at the location, its hovering rotors exposed a backpack poking through the snow.

“We dug there and found them lying one on top of the other, probably trying to stay warm,” said Rescue Marshall Massimiliano Giovannini. “Sadly they were not well enough equipped for the winter conditions.”

Both had crampons, but neither man had winter gear and they were wearing only light pants and windbreakers.

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