Extreme Alpinst killed in avalanche

One of the world’s most promising young alpinists, Italian mountain and ice climbing legend Luca Vuerich has perished in an avalanche while on an icefall at Prisojinik, close to Kranjska Gora on the Italian-Slovenian border.

He passed away from his injuries in hospital after being rescued. He was 34 years old.

Planetmountain.com spoke of Luca as not only an ice climbing ace, but a complete alpinist and rock climber.

‘He was extremely talented in all disciplines, excelling on great rock faces, 8000m giants and skiing’.

Vuerich was only 22 when he visited the Himalaya for the first time, to climb Nanga Parbat. Having grown up in the Julian Alps, he soon proved himself to be an outstanding climber both in ability and style. He was a true alpinist in the real sense of the word, climbing light and fast in small teams, even on the world’s highest mountains.

Together with Nives Meroi and Romano Benet, he had summited five 8000m peaks.

Climb.co.za reports that in 2003 the so-called Tarvisio-trio of Himalayan mountaineering succeeded in an exceptional hat-trick in a mere 20 days: Gasherbrum I (8035m), Gasherbrum II (8068m) and Broad Peak (8046m). In 2004 they climbed Lhotse, this was followed in 2008 by Manaslu (8163m). All climbs were carried out in their hallmark lightweight style, without supplementary oxygen and high altitude porters.

He was a qualified mountain guide and had a passion for photography.

Sources: PlanetMountain and climb.co.za