Avalanche kills two in the Italian Alps.

Two people have been killed and another five injured, three severely, following an avalanche on Mount Hohe Ferse (or Tallone Grande), a 2669 m peak in the Eastern Rhaetan Alps of Italy's Alto Adige (or South Tyrol) Province, on Saturday 21 March 2025. The avalanche, which is described as having been about 150 m wide, occurred at an altitude of about 2400 m, and caught 25 skiers in total.

Rescue workers searching for people trapped beneath the snow following an avalanche on Mount Hohe Ferse in the Eastern Rhaetan Alps on Saturday 21 March 2026. Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico.

Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.

Diagrammatic representation of an avalanche, showing how layering of snow contributes to these events. Expedition Earth.

The incident brings the number of people killed in avalanches in Europe this winter to 127, including 33 in Italy, 31 in France, 29 in Austria, 15 in Switzerland, eight in Spain, six in Slovakia, and one each in Poland and Andorra. This means that this snow season in Europe (which is not yet over) has already produced the second highest recorded number of deaths, exceeded only by the winter of 2017/18, when 147 people died. 

This high number of fatalities appears to be linked to the warming climate, which has several knock-on effects that can lead to avalanches. Firstly, warmer conditions over the Atlantic lead to higher evaporation levels and therefore more moist air flowing over Europe, which tends to precipitate out as snow when it encounters cold updraughts above the continent's mountain ranges. Secondly, the snow itself is warmer, in many places failing to form the deeply frozen lower layers that tend to keep the snowpack in place. Finally, the higher temperature of the atmosphere tends to lead to windier conditions, which also prevents snow settling in a single place, often leading to moving drifts, which are much more prone to avalanching than solid snowpack.

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Avalanche kills five in the Italian Alps.

Five people have been confirmed dead following an avalanche in the Italian Alps on Saturday 1 November 2025. The incident happened at about 4.00 pm local time on Mount Cima Vertana (or Vertainspitze), one of the Ortler Alps of Italy's Alto Adige (or South Tyrol) Province. Two groups of climbers were caught in the event, with all three members of the first group, described as two men and a woman, being swept away. The second group, comprising a father and his 17-year-old daughter, were caught lower down the slope, and were swept downhill about 200 m to their deaths. The event was witnessed by two climbers from a third party, who were above the avalanche when it hit and were able to call for help. All of those involved are understood to have been German nationals.

The route of the 1 November 2025 Cima Vertana avalanche. Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico.

All of the climbers are understood to have been ascending the mountain using ice axes and crampons at the time of the incident. The summit of Cima Vertana is 3545 m above sealevel, making it the 125th highest peak in the Alps. Fog and poor visibility prevented rescue teams from reaching the mountain until some time after dawn on Sunday, with teams with Dogs being airlifted to 2600 m, before continuing the ascent on foot. A representative of the Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico has questioned why climbers were ascending the mountain so late in the day, since even a successful ascent would have led to to their having to descend in darkness.

The location of Cima Vertana. Google Maps.

Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.

Diagrammatic representation of an avalanche, showing how layering of snow contributes to these events. Expedition Earth.

The cause of the 1 November 2025 Cima Vertana avalanche is unclear at this time, although there is known to have been recent snowfall on the mountain, and it has been speculated that some of this poorly consolidated snow could have been shifted by high winds, triggering the event.

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One person missing after Swiss village burried beneath landslide.

One person has been reported missing following a landslide in the Swiss canton of Valais which has covered about 90% of the village of Blatten in the Lötschental Valley with rubble and debris on Wednesday 28 May 2025. The landslide occurred after a part of the Birch Glacier broke off, allowing rock held behind it to tumble onto the village. The village had been evacuated since 19 May, when geologists identified that part of the mountain behind the glacier had started to move, following a detected increase in movement from the glacier itself. The missing person has been identified as a man aged 64, but no further details have been given.

Debris covering the village of Blatten in the Lötschental Valley in the canton of Valais, Switzerland, following a landslide on 28 May 2025. Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone.

The village was evacuated on 19 May after geologists identified the potential for a major landslide hitting the village as a 'worst case scenario' following their assessment of movements on the Birch Glacier. However, despite this 'worst case scenario' having come true, there is now thought to be a significant risk of further problems, with the landslid having covered part of the Lonza River, causing the potential for water to build up behind the debris, which might in turn catastrophically fail, causing flood events further down the valley.

 All glaciers in Switzerland, and the wider Alps, are currently considered to be at risk due to rising global temperatures, with many recording increased flow rates similar to that seen on Birch Glacier. While it is not generally considered possible to say to what extent global warming has contributed to individual incidents, it is highly likely that Alpine regions will be subjected to more incidents of this kind in the future.

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Samaroblattella valmarensis: A Subioblattid 'roachoid' from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio fauna of Switzerland.

The Eoblattodea, or 'roachoids' form a stem group to the living Dictyoptera, which comprises the Cockroaches, Mantises, and Termites (a stem group contains fossil species more closely related to the living group they are on the 'stem' of than to any other living group, but not descended from the last common ancestor of all living members of that group). This stem group first appeared in the Carboniferous, with the common ancestor of all living Dictyopterans probably living in the Jurassic. The Subioblattids are a small group of 'roachoids' known from the Triassic of South Africa, France, and Central Asia. This group is fairly well-known from its forewing anatomy (the forewings are considered to be reliable on their own for the diagnosis of Insect relationships), but to date no body fossils found to date.

In a paper published in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology on 10 March 2025, Matteo Montagna of the Department of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, Fabio Magnani of the Museo Cantonale di Storia Naturale, Giulia Magoga, also of the Department of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II, and André Nel of the Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité at the National d’Histoire Naturelle, describe a new species of Subioblattid 'roachoid' from the Middle Triassic of Monte San Giorgio fauna of Switzerland.

The Monte San Giorgio fauna derives its name from Monte San Giorgio, a mountain on the border between Italy and Switzerland in the Lugano Prealps. The exposed geological sequence on this mountain begins in the Lower Permian, where a succession of volcanic rocks mark the onset of the Variscan Orogeny, as the continents of Euramerica and Gondwana collided during the formation of the supercontinent of Pangea. These are overlain by a sequence of Triassic sediments recording a tropical terrestrial environment, a shallow near-shore environment, a deeper marine basin with extensive limestone deposits, a second terrestrial exposure caused by a major marine regression (drop in sealevel) in the Late Triassic, and finally an Early Jurassic marine Basin.

The fossils of the Monte San Giorgio fauna come from shales of the Besano Formation and the overlying Meride Limestone, which were laid down in the Early-Middle Triassic marine basin. These fossils include Bivalves, Marine Reptiles, Fish, Crustaceans, and Cephalopods, as well as terrestrial-derived fossils such as Plants, terrestrial Vertebrates, and Insects. To date, 273 species of Insect have been recorded from Monte San Giorgio, including Thrips, True Bugs, and Flies, as well as representatives of groups such as the Monura and Permithonidae, which were thought to hve died out in the End Permian Extinction until they were discovered here.

Location of the Monte San Giorgio UNESCO World Heritage Site and stratigraphic section of the Middle Triassic sediments. (A0 Map showing the location of Monte San Giorgio and the carbonate Anisian-Ladinian sequence and the location of Val Mara (indicated by a star) where VM 12 site occurs. (B) Stratigraphic section of Middle Triassic sediments in Monte San Giorgio; black arrow indincates the position of VM 12 strata where the Insect fossil was collected. Montagna et al. (2025).

The new species is described from a single specimen from Meride Limestone of Monte San Giorgio. This is placed in the genus Samaroblattella on the basis of its forewing veination, but assigned to a new species, valmarensis, meaning 'from Val Mara' in reference to the location where the fossil was found.

The genus Samaroblattella was first described in 1976 to describe a fossil from South Africa, with a second species described from Kazakhstan, Central Asia, in 2001. Unlike these previously described species, and indeed all other previously described members of the roachoid family Subioblattidae, to which the genus is assigned, Samaroblattella valmarensis has a preserved body as well as wings.

The hind legs of Samaroblattella valmarensisi closely resemble those of the extant Jumping Cockroach, Saltoblattella montistabularis, with both species also having an elongate shape, and a narrow pronotum (plate on the forepart of the prothorax, before the wings) suggesting that this ancient roachoid may have had a similar jumping habit. 

However, a close relationship is not proposed, as Samaroblattella valmarensisi also has an elongated, sword-like, external ovipositor, something absent from crown group Dictyopterans (ctown group comprises all species deecended from the last common ancestor of all living species), which have an internal ovipositor. External ovipositors were found in the earliest Insects, with internal ovipositors having appeared separately several times in different groups.

Holotype of Samaroblattella valmarensis. Arrows highlight specifc body parts: f, fore legs (femora)[ ml, mid legs (femora and tibiae); hl, hind legs (femora and tibiae); ce, cerci; ov, ovipositor. Scale bar is 5 mm. Montagna et al. (2025).

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Avalanche kills six in the French Alps.

Six people, including two mountain guides and four tourists, have died in an avalanche in the French Alps on Sunday 9 April 2023. Another tourist is reported to have received minor injuries, while eight more were swept downslope by the avalanche but escaped unscathed. The event happened on the Armancette Glacier, in the Haute-Savoie Department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, at around mid-day. The cause of the event is unclear at this time, and it is understood that no avalanche-warning was in place at the time.

An avalanche at the Armancette Glacier, near Mont Blanc in south-eastern France, which killed six people on Sunday 9 April 2023. BBC.

Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.

Diagrammatic representation of an avalanche, showing how layering of snow contributes to these events. Expedition Earth.

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Four skiers injured by avalanche in Austria.

Four skiers have been injured after being hit by an avalanche on Mount Trittkopf, a 2700 m summit near the village of Lech am Arlberg in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg. The incident happened at about 3.00 pm on Christmas Day (25 December) 2022. Ten skiers were initially reported missing following the incident, but all of them have now been located. One of the injured skiers has been airlifted to a hospital in Innsbruck, but none is thought to have sustained life-threatening injuries.

A rescue team on Mount Trittkopf in western Austria on 25 December 2022. Austria Presse Agentur.

Avalanches are caused by the mechanical failure of snowpacks; essentially when the weight of the snow above a certain point exceeds the carrying capacity of the snow at that point to support its weight. This can happen for two reasons, because more snow falls upslope, causing the weight to rise, or because snow begins to melt downslope, causing the carrying capacity to fall. Avalanches may also be triggered by other events, such as Earthquakes or rockfalls. Contrary to what is often seen in films and on television, avalanches are not usually triggered by loud noises. Because snow forms layers, with each layer typically occurring due to a different snowfall, and having different physical properties, multiple avalanches can occur at the same spot, with the failure of a weaker layer losing to the loss of the snow above it, but other layers below left in place - to potentially fail later.

Diagrammatic representation of an avalanche, showing how layering of snow contributes to these events. Expedition Earth.

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