Two Romanian climbers die after falling into a 20-metre crevasse on Gran Paradiso
The bodies of two Romanian climbers were recovered Monday morning from a crevasse on the Gran Paradiso massif in the Italian Alps, ending a multi-day search that began on 9 July.
The discovery
Rescuers from the Valle d'Aosta Alpine Rescue team located the bodies on the morning of 13 July 2026, at the bottom of a crevasse approximately 20 metres deep. The climbers had been missing since 9 July, the day they left the Vittorio Emanuele II refuge for their ascent of the 4,061-metre peak. Several helicopter overflights in the preceding days had yielded no results.
According to Mediafax, the crevasse was found at an altitude of roughly 3,700 metres, on the descent route from Gran Paradiso. The alarm was raised by the son of one of the climbers after he was unable to reach them. Identification procedures have been entrusted to the Guardia di Finanza of Entrèves-Courmayeur.
The mountain's deceptive ease
Gran Paradiso is one of the most frequented 4,000-metre peaks in the Alps and is often viewed as an accessible target for climbers aiming to bag their "first 4,000." Several reports note that its apparent simplicity can be misleading. The search area sits within Italy's oldest national park, on a massif that straddles the border region near Switzerland and France.
Rising toll on Italian peaks
The incident adds to a growing number of fatalities on Italian mountains. In 2025, 528 people died on Italian summits, a 13% increase from the 466 deaths recorded in 2024, according to the Italian National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps (CNSAS).
- 2024
- 466 deaths
- 2025
- 528 deaths
The search timeline
The search operation was launched on Thursday, 10 July, after the two men failed to return from their climb. Helicopter sweeps continued for several days over the presumed area without success until the crevasse was finally spotted on Monday morning. Recovery teams extracted the bodies from the 20-metre depth later that day.
- Climbers leave Vittorio Emanuele II refuge for ascent
- Search operation launched after climbers fail to return
- Multiple helicopter overflights conducted with no result
- Crevasses located and bodies recovered from 20-metre depth
What comes next
With the bodies recovered, the priority has shifted to formal identification by the Entrèves-Courmayeur police. Neither the ages of the two Romanian nationals nor their identities have been publicly released. Investigations into the exact circumstances of the fall are ongoing.
