Skip to main content

Canadian woman dies after being caught in a sudden snowstorm in Italy's Dolomite mountains

Clouds hang over the snow-covered Dolomites mountains near Bolzano, in northern Italian province of South Tyrol, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) Clouds hang over the snow-covered Dolomites mountains near Bolzano, in northern Italian province of South Tyrol, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Share
MILAN, Italy -

A 56-year-old Canadian woman died after being caught in a sudden snowstorm in Italy’s Dolomite mountains and her companion was being treated for severe hypothermia, Italy’s Alpine Rescue Corps said Friday.

The two climbers, exhausted and suffering hypothermia, called for help Thursday evening after being hit by the snowstorm about two kilometres (more than a mile) from a mountain refuge. The hikers were not identified by name or hometown.

Rescuers reached them, but bad weather scuttled two attempts to evacuate the woman, whose condition was worsening, by helicopter. She died later on the mountain.

Rescuers put up a tent and sheltered the 56-year-old male hiker overnight until the storm cleared and a helicopter could rescue him early Friday. He was being treated at a hospital in the northern Italian city of Bolzano.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

What women should know about their breasts, according to a doctor

One in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women in the United States, with 42,000 women dying every year from this cancer.

Local Spotlight

Video shows meteor streaking across Ontario

Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.