Photo Gallery Deadly Consequences
In April, 10 alpinists, including a guide with years of experience set out on the Haute Route hiking trail, which follows spectacular peaks in the Alps between Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland.
The group ran into trouble while climbing near Pigne d'Arolla. Thick fog formed and was followed by a snow storm. The mountaineers lost their orientation in the inclimate weather conditions.
The group had been trying to make their way through the mountains to the Cabane des Vignettes hut.
They made it to within 400 meters of the spectacular hut, which is built into a mountain cliff like an eagle's nest. But the group didn't make it to the lodge -- lost and disoriented, they spent the night on the mountain, exposed to the snow storm.
A photo taken on a mobile phone by one of the surviving hikers shows the dramatic conditions.
The next morning, on Monday, April 30, the group could be seen on the mountainside from the Cabane des Vignettes hut. Rescuers found 14 people suffering from severe hypothermia on the ridge. Seven of them died.
An ice axe left behind by one of the hikers on that fateful day. One of the hikers claims their guide made fatal errors. And the calamity has prompted a fresh debate about mountaineering safety in the Alps.
The public prosecutor in Valais, Switzerland, is also investigating the disaster to determine if critical errors were made.
In the past year, 154 people died in accidents in Switzerland's mountains. In 2015, 213 people died. Occasional fatal accidents are nothing unusual in the mountains. But seven fatalities in a group of 10 is a catastrophe, and it raises the question of whether someone should be held responsible.
