PENNE (Pescara). Would have wept, if the storm it had been. “But the tears did not come out, he had taken all the cold during the journey”. The marshal, Lorenzo Gagliardi was the first to reach the hotel Rigopiano. Arrived at 4 in the morning, with his group of financiers mountaineers of Roccaraso. “Eight kilometres of the ski. It is found in the middle of nowhere. The darkness. The whistle of the wind. A flashlight on the face of which projected light beams on the abyss. She did the only thing a man can do, when fate turns so bad. Dig. “Scavavo with the shovel, with the hands, with a branch… the probe had made us to understand that, there under three feet of s now, there was someone. And I in my head we talked about it, with that person. Arrival, arrive, hold on…carry me home. You’re too strong, you can not die, so, from that we come to you. And instead…”. The sentence interrupted the marshal, Winds the ends of the chronicle: the man with the wind jacket is frozen to death.
When you started?
“We were alerted to 19.30. Initially we had to go to Campotosto, where there was an avalanche with a person under, but then there were used those of an Eagle. Along the way we found all the means of the rescuers blocked by the snow, by fallen trees, debris. Between the last piece of the road free and the hotel Rigopiano, there were 8 kilometers.”
How did you get up there?
“With the ski and the seal skin and the helmet with the flashlight, walking along what was the road and which of course you saw more. We started at midnight, in the midst of a storm terrible. We were twelve, all the financiers” .
And what happened then?
“We were in danger, because on the path there were two other landslides. We advanced in column, at a distance of 20 metres one from the other: in this way, if she came another avalanche there would have overwhelmed all. We did the rounds to stand at the head of the row: the first, in fact, “beat the track” on the fresh snow, much more effort of others.”
What have you brought?
“Equipment alpine skis: shovel, probe and avalanche transceiver, the apparatus for localization”.
And what goes through your head in moments like that?
“do you Think that in the end your job is just this: be there at 4 degrees below zero in the midst of the storm, because there are people in difficulty that only you can help. With the other group we used to make our courage, we urlavamo: “How much?”, hoping that the leader would respond “we are!””.
When you reached the hotel?
“At 4… there was almost nothing of the hotel, only a white hill. The only part accessible was the fitness area and the gym. We made wide between the tools, but there was none. We tried with the lift shaft: collapsed to one. The snow was in the room, as if a cannon had fired to force inside. Those who know the hotel told me that it moved 20-30 metres. The avalanche has run over from the rear, from the kitchen area, and guest rooms. I heard a noise, monotonous, a generator was operated in the automatic mode. There was a light in the boiler room. The only two signs of any human presence. Then we saw that machine…”.
What car?
“I Was 50 metres from the hotel, in a clearing, with the engine running. It was the only one not to have been overturned by the avalanche. Inside there were two men, Giampiero Wall and Fabio Salzetta, still alive thanks to the heating system of the car. The wall was in a state of shock, tried, cold… told us that inside the hotel there was his family.”
What did he say?
“I promised them I would have reported both. He could go to the hospital, because here I was I. I am 48 years old and two daughters, I know what it means. I made a promise, father to father.”
Salzetta how it was?
“all in All good. He has been with us for four hours, has shown us the points of the structure where to look. We planted the probes, and then scavavamo. So, for the whole night, until dawn”.
When they reached the other emergency vehicles?
“The helicopters early in the morning, the others that were along the road came around a. We stopped for a moment, I had time only to drink a half a glass of tea.
had never happened such a serious situation?
“avalanche I’ve done a lot, are in the alpine group since 2008. I was in the relief of the earthquake in l’aquila, Norcia, Amatrice. But here is different, there were people who were safe in the hotel, there were kids… And I know that desperate father. I have to return to his family.”
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