Two Italian skiers from Piedmont died in an avalanche in northwest Italy Wednesday, after one skier was killed and another critically injured in the Alps earlier this week.
Franco Giuliano, 67, from Mezzenile Turin, and Pietro Gilodi, 59, from Vercelli, were killed in Val d'Aosta near the Scavarda refuge in Valgrisenche, at 3,500 metres, rescue services said.
"Conditions on the mountain are very delicate, the snow is still very wet and this is the third incident in three days," said Alpine rescue services director Adriano Favre, quoted by Turin-based daily La Stampa.
On Tuesday, a 36-year-old French ski mountaineer was critically wounded in an avalanche at the Bonatti Couloir near Mont Blanc at 3,800 metres. A day earlier, a French woman died after she was buried under two metres of snow during an avalanche in Valgrisenche at 3,300 metres.