A British hiker who had to be airlifted to safety after he ignored signs and crossed warning barriers in the Italian Dolomites is paying a high price for his rescue.
The 60-year-old, whose name has not been made public, was given a bill for €14,225 ($16,400) to pay for the use of two rescue helicopters and more than a dozen specialized rescuers and support staff when he needed help on Thursday, according to the Veneto Alpine and Speleological Rescue (CNSAS).
A week earlier, two Belgian hikers in the same area were handed a far smaller bill for their rescue because they are European Union citizens. The United Kingdom left the EU in 2020.
More than 80 people died hiking the Italian Alps and Dolomites between June 21 and July 23, according to the CNSAS, making it the deadliest hiking season this century. Five people remain unaccounted for.
Rescue calls have also risen by 20% over last year, which led to the closure of some of the most treacherous routes around Cortina and San Vito di Cadore, where the British hiker was rescued, Maurizio Dellantonio, chief of CNSAS, said at the weekend.
“A 60-year-old English hiker, who had set out that morning from Passo Tre Croci, called to say he was on the Berti via ferrata and that rocks were falling from above,” the CNSAS warned on its social media on Thursday evening, noting that the man did not have equipment to give his precise coordinates.
“Once he had reconstructed his theoretical position, he was told not to move from his sheltered spot and to wait for help to arrive, as the mountain was currently hidden by clouds. To decide on the recovery strategy, the hiker’s exact position was needed, so they had to wait for the clouds to clear. When the clouds cleared, the San Vito di Cadore Alpine Rescue team unfortunately discovered that the hiker was right in the center of the landslide, at an altitude of 2,400 meters (nearly 7,900 feet).”
After the rescue, first responders with the CNSAS working with Italy’s Civil Protection decided to close more trails.
“The operation was made necessary due to hikers neglecting existing signage, which was evidently insufficient to stop people, either due to inattention or an underestimation of the risk,” CNSAS said in a Facebook post. The post shows images of existing signage that clearly says “closed” in English, Italian and German.
“This measure is intended to protect the safety of those in transit, as well as the rescuers themselves, both the helicopter rescue crews and the teams on foot,” the post continued.
Dellantonio said the man passed at least four signs and had to crawl around a barrier and was urged by other hikers at the signposts to turn around and head back with them.
The dangerous and deadly conditions across the European Alps this year is blamed on extreme weather, with unpredicted storms sweeping through causing landslides, flash flooding and blizzard-like conditions. Some of the recent rescued people have been hospitalized for hypothermia.
Local authorities are warning people to be prepared if they do travel to the area to climb.
“What happened (with the British hiker) warrants some reflection,” Giuseppe Dal Ben, the commissioner of the Ulss 1 health authority in the Dolomites, told reporters at the weekend.
“Helicopters are essential for time-sensitive operations in harsh environments. Precisely for this reason, it is important that they are not used as taxis, endangering not only those who are providing the assistance but those who actually need it.”