Denis Trento, former ski mountaineering champion, died yesterday on Testa del Paramont, in the Aosta valley.
The athlete from the Courmayeur Army Sports Center and Aosta Valley mountain guide, 41 years old, married with three children, was found by rescuers above an avalanche, at the bottom of a wall. It remains to be established with certainty whether or not he was overwhelmed by the mass of snow. The fact that he was wearing crampons at the time of the accident may indicate that he was tackling a delicate passage, not necessarily an uphill one.
The steep ski outing on the Testa del Paramont, one of his “home mountains”, near La Salle, had started very early and should have finished by the morning. When his family did not see him return, they raised the alarm.
Trento, in its palmarès, boasts top placings in ski mountaineering competitions such as first place at the team world championships in 2008 and 2011 and, again, the top step of the podium at the European championships in 2007 and 2009. It has also won major ski mountaineering classics such as the Pierra Menta, the Adamello Ski Raid, the Mezzalama Trophy and the Tour du Rutor.
(Unioneonline/ss)
