Zen, a 5-year-old Border Collie, was freshly circled around a snow hill while picking up a scent, and his quick movements to his handler that someone was buried deep down.
Zen has been a rescue dog for three years, and on this day he set an example for 20 other dogs certified for Lawine rescue in the heart of the Italian dolomites, where the breathtaking chased peaks have long enchanted writers, painters and outdoor enthusiasts.
The role of dogs in Italian alpine rescue becomes more important as the number of people caught increases by Lawine – by 50% higher over the past 25 years.
Climate change has made heavy, wet snow more common in intoxications between 1,500-2,500 meters (5,000-8,000 feet) where most excursions venture, which makes the survival of the lawline less likely by pressing airbags together that can inhale a trapped alpine or off-pist skier.
A trained Lawine Rescue Dog’s nose can detect someone who is buried deep in the snow more accurate than any transponder, which makes their role fundamental to reaching victims “in the shortest possible time,” says Adriano Favre, which drives the training camp in the mountains above Cortina d’Ampezzo, a Chic -Sski resort and a lead of the 2026 Winter Olympic game, have.
After picking up the scent, Zen energies with a sign of life – a rope -drag boat – of the Snow Den -Mesquergand, appeared as a lawin for the purposes of practice exercise. Shortly thereafter, his handler digs a voluntary victim from the snow and shows Zen with distinction and affection.
“All our dogs must have an intense relationship with the handler. If not, we can’t read what he’s trying to tell us, “said Zen’s handler, Paolo Sbisa, who raised him from puppy.” Once the relationship is built, they will do everything to make us happy. ‘
Dogs sniff out the Lawine survivors and bodies
Nine days earlier, at a nearby pace, just 3 miles (2 kilometers), while the crow flies, Zen’s mission was deadly serious.
Three skiers in the background were buried at 2300 meters by a Lawine on the Giau Pass – usually a route for beginners amid a beautiful, robust rocky box near a mountain road that became deadly the day after a heavy snowfall.
Zen and his handler were on the first helicopter that left for 10 minutes from the base. When they arrived, Witnesses pulled a 51-year-old man out of the snow. Rescuers found the second victim with a transponder, a 38-year-old man buried 2 meters deep.
Zen’s nose was the key to detecting the third skier, a 40-year-old woman buried in snow in 3 to 4 meters-the ordinary, according to Sbisa, who made the role of a rescue dog critical to determine where to dig.
Despite their efforts, she and the second victim died – which revealed a disappointing truth: If you need a dog to find you, it’s probably too late. For this reason, SBISA and other rescuers believe that it is critical to the country’s outing to know and know how to use transponders, foldable investigations and kicks, as the best chance of survival by companions or witnesses is self -saving. Dogs find bodies more frequently than not.
“However, if something goes wrong, the only weapon that alpine rescue workers should look for is dogs,” Sbisa said. “We have no other chance. ″
Italian Lawine rises by 50% in 25 years
Avalanches where people who need rescue in Italy have doubled since the turn of a rolling average of 30 per year to 60, according to the Aineva Snow and Avalanche Monitoring Service. During the same period, the number of excursionists also increased significantly from 65 per year to 110 per year, based on rolling averages.
For those buried, survival comes to time. The best chance comes when a person who was liberated in the first ten to 15 minutes said Igor Chiambretti, the technical head of the Aineva Snow and Avalanche Association of Italy. If not found within 35 minutes, studies show 70% of victims die from suffocation.
Rescue dogs in Italy are always on the first helicopter leaving the base. But it usually takes 15 to 20 minutes to get to any Lawine scene. Bad weather extends that window.
Putting a few lawn dogs at skiing areas will reduce the arrival time to five minutes, something Chiambretti said is considered in Italy, where 80 Lawine dogs are active.
Climate change brings more complications
The risk is that the risk of the risk is – heavy wet snow with the water content between 3% and 8%. They were once considered Spring, but come in December, thanks to more moisture in the air and warmer temperatures, Chiambretti said.
This is especially found in the middle heights that are strong trafficking and reduce the chances of survival by pressing airbags together. With more of this kind of snow, the number of people who survive a complete funeral will be less and less, Chiambretti said.
Snow disagreement looked more frequently in Italy, on the southern edge of the Alps, at the Mediterranean.
“The Mediterranean sink is considered a so-called warm place, it is an area of the planet where climate change, especially warm-up, is more than the world average,” says Gianni Marigo, an Aineva climatologist. The Italian Alps, in turn, is a warm place within a warm place. ”
The big picture of climate change also means less overall snow for low -wages, as glaciers shrink worldwide, especially in the Alps. Snow -depth levels in the southwest of the Alps have dropped almost 5% per decade since the 1980s, according to a 2024 study.
“With a wetter and warmer snow climate, the effects of funeral will be worse,” although blunt trauma is likely to become more thinner as the snow cover becomes thinner, according to a 2021 study published in the borders in physiology.
An unlikely survivor
By the time a rescue dog Roberto Ferrino was buried under a lawline in the Alps of the northwest of Piedmonte, the lonely skier of the background was buried for 4 hours and 40 minutes – far beyond the average survival time.
To this day, seven years after his accident, neither Ferrino nor his wife knows how he made it – except that an airbag formed around him that could breathe him. His body temperature dropped to 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 Fahrenheit) and the heartbeat to 30 beats per minute.
Ferrino still does not regret that he left the mountains alone that day, despite warnings about a ‘substantial’ lawline risk. He says his mistake was to choose a steep slope and not pay attention to the wind.
“If I had done the normal route, nothing would have happened,” he said.
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Barry reported from Rome.
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