TWO young ski mountaineers have been killed in a horror avalanche in northern Italy after a snow cornice gave way beneath their feet.

Marika Mascherona, 28, and Alberto De Maron, 27, were swept to their deaths on the southwest face of Mount Cornaccia in Valdidentro on Thursday morning.

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Marika Mascherona, 28, was tragically killed in a horror avalancheCredit: X
 

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Alberto De Maron, 27, was also swept to his deathCredit: X
 

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The pair, both from Valtellina, were buried under tonnes of snow near the Cancano dams in the province of Sondrio.

Rescuers clawed through the snow as helicopters thudded overhead, but it was too late.

They told Corriere della Sera that “a snow cornice broke away from under their feet, and they fell down the rocks with the avalanche.”

The alarm was raised just before 11am after three people were caught up in the high-altitude slide.

Mascherona, from Bormio and sister of Italian national ski mountaineer Katia Mascherona, and De Maron, from Grosotto, were pulled lifeless from the snowdrift.

A third ski mountaineer, who witnessed the tragedy and called for help, was treated at the scene but did not need hospital treatment.

Emergency crews, including technicians from the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, firefighters from Sondrio and the Guardia di Finanza’s Alpine Rescue team, battled treacherous conditions to secure the slope.

The operation was coordinated by AREU 118, with two rescue helicopters scrambled from Sondrio and Bergamo.

Rescuers continued sweeping the mountainside amid fears of further collapses.

The deadly slide comes as avalanche risk across Lombardy spikes due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

ARPA Lombardia had warned in its morning bulletin of a “locally increased avalanche danger during the warmest hours at intermediate altitudes.”

The agency said in a snow bulletin: “The temperature trend of recent days has favoured an increase in natural avalanche activity, including ground-level avalanches, due to the wetting of the snowpack and the resulting heavier weight on the uppermost layers.”

Forecasters said weakening internal bonds within the snowpack had led to the triggering of even very large avalanches on most steep slopes.

They added that the situation is gradually improving, with fewer potentially dangerous slopes as natural avalanche activity stabilises the snow.

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The avalanche happened on Mount Cornaccia in Valdidentro, Italy, on ThursdayCredit: Alamy
They explained that in the early hours of the day the snowpack is frozen at all altitudes, with surface melt-and-freeze crusts forming.

But as temperatures rise into the central hours, those crusts and internal bonds weaken down to 2,500 metres.

At the highest altitudes, the snow remains dry and winter-like, with widespread highly cohesive, load-bearing slabs still present.

Investigators are now probing the exact chain of events that led to the fatal collapse.

The stretch of mountain above the Cancano lakes – close to the Swiss border – has seen similar avalanches in recent days.

Huge avalanches have swept Europe this winter leaving record fatalities in their wake.

Several ski resorts have been forced to shut as avalanche danger levels surged to the highest levels across vast stretches of the Alps.

The death toll across France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria has already climbed above 60 this season alone.

In the French Alps at least 27 people have died this year, including three British skiers who died in the past week.

It marks France’s highest death toll since the 2020 to 2021 season when 40 people lost their lives in avalanches.