Two Dead and Five Injured After Massive Avalanche in Italy's Ridanna Valley

An avalanche struck a group of ski mountaineers in the Ridanna Valley in South Tyrol, Italy, on Saturday, March 21, 2026, killing two people and injuring five others, three of them seriously. The snow mass broke loose at 11:40 AM at an altitude of on Tallone Grande, in the municipality of Racines, according to the Bolzano Emergency Center. A total of 25 ski mountaineers were on the slope at the moment of the avalanche, though most were only brushed by the snow mass. Two ski mountaineers were recovered dead from the snow, while a third seriously injured person was airlifted by the Austrian rescue helicopter Christophorus to the University Clinic of Innsbruck. Two additional victims sustained minor injuries, bringing the confirmed final toll to two dead and five injured in total.

Six helicopters and 80 rescuers mobilized across the valley The scale of the rescue operation reflected the severity of the incident, with approximately deployed from across the upper Isarco Valley. Six helicopters participated in the operation: three Pelikan aircraft, one Aiut Alpin, and one Guardia di Finanza helicopter, all from South Tyrol, as well as the Austrian Christophorus helicopter. Ground rescue teams from the Cnsas, the Alpenverein, and the Guardia di Finanza reached the site by helicopter alongside dog units and local firefighters. Hospitals in Bolzano, Merano, Bressanone, and Innsbruck were placed on alert shortly before noon, with staff verifying the availability of intensive care beds and ECMO treatments, a form of extracorporeal life support. The cross-border nature of the response, involving both Italian and Austrian emergency services, underscored the logistical complexity of high-altitude rescue operations in the region.

Tragedy strikes days after Monte Nevoso anniversary The avalanche occurred just days after South Tyrol marked a somber milestone in its mountain rescue history. On March 12, 2026, the region had commemorated the tenth anniversary of the massive avalanche on Monte Nevoso, above Riva di Tures, which claimed six lives and remains the most serious mountain disaster in South Tyrol in recent decades. Among those killed in the 2016 Monte Nevoso avalanche were a 16-year-old boy swept away before his father's eyes, a young nurse, a highly experienced mountaineer who had climbed Manaslu, and the director general of the Chamber of Commerce of the Austrian state of Tyrol. The recurrence of a deadly avalanche event so close to that anniversary drew renewed attention to the persistent dangers facing ski mountaineers in the South Tyrolean Alps during late winter conditions.

South Tyrol, an autonomous province in northeastern Italy bordering Austria, is one of the most active alpine rescue zones in Europe due to its high-altitude terrain and year-round mountaineering activity. The Monte Nevoso avalanche of March 12, 2016, which killed six people above Riva di Tures, was described by rescue services as the worst mountain disaster in the region in recent decades. Avalanche risk in the South Tyrolean Alps typically peaks in late winter and early spring, when snowpack instability increases with rising temperatures and solar radiation at altitude.

Ridanna Valley Avalanche — March 21, 2026: — ; — ; — ; —