A family caught on camera making a hair-raising climb without safety equipment in the Italian Dolomites has come under fire from mountain rescue services.
The unknown parents and their young children were spotted by another shocked climber, who filmed them as they attempted to complete the dangerous Via Ferrata climb.
During this tour, you will make your way across wafer-thin ledges at terrifying heights using metal cables, ladders and metal attachments anchored into the rocks. Many of these attachments are left over from the First World War and were installed by soldiers from the Alps.
The family – foreign tourists – were spotted on the Bepi Zac section of the Via Ferrata – classified as difficult – which runs between a rocky ridge from Passo Selle to Forcella Laghet in the Monzoni mountains near Trento.
According to one guidebook, the route, which reaches a dizzying height of 2,730 metres, is “open” and has “narrow ledges” and “unprotected paths” that are “definitely adrenaline-pumping”.
The father is seen walking carefully across the narrow ridge above a steep precipice, carrying a baby
The man navigated the risky climb while carrying a small child – he climbed the metal steps with only one hand free
Another video shows a young child reaching out to reach the handholds on the path
A young boy is seen nervously holding the cable as his mother encourages the clearly worried child
The video shows the father carrying his baby in his arms, carefully walking with one hand across the cable car, while his wife stands behind him, holding on to the same object.
Luigi Bartocci, who posted the video online, said: ‘Look at this madman, he’s absolutely mad, will you guys check this out, check this out guys.’
“There he is with a little child in his arms. It’s amazing. They’re at almost 3,000m and they have no safety equipment, they have nothing.”
Luigi added, “Look where he is,” as he carefully descends the section until he reaches a wider path at the foot of a ladder fixed into the rock.
A few minutes later, Luigi saw a mother and child, again foreign tourists, making the same perilous descent – with a young boy clinging nervously to the cable as his mother encouraged the clearly worried child.
Luigi said, “And then they say accidents happen in the mountains,” and the pair happily reached the same ledge as the previous climbers and continued their journey.
Walter Cainelli, chairman of the local Alpine Rescue, said: ‘Unfortunately, the existing risks are being taken less and less into account.
‘If you get to a point where you can’t go any further because you don’t have the right equipment, then you turn around, it’s that simple.
‘Too many times during the year we are called upon to intervene and provide assistance to people who enter the mountains unprepared and without the proper equipment.
The foreign tourists were climbing in the Italian Dolomites when they were captured on camera
The baby clings to the father as he feels his way along the section of the Via Ferrata that is rated as difficult
Mr Cainelli added that 12,349 operations were carried out by Italian Alpine rescue teams in 2023.
Maurizio Fugatti, provincial president of Trento, said: ‘Everyone is welcome in our mountains, but the best way to experience them is to first develop a deep sense of respect.
‘Don’t play with life and don’t underestimate nature. We have lived in the mountains for centuries; we love it, even though we know how hard it can be.
‘And the price paid is high, sometimes by those who came to the aid of others. The best way to honor their memory is to follow the rules, with scrupulous caution.
“We owe it to ourselves, to our loved ones and to the many people whose lives should not be endangered by recklessness and carelessness.”
The Bepi Zac cable car runs over positions occupied by Italian troops and Austro-Hungarian opponents during World War I and is popular with experienced thrill seekers.
Six people died in accidents in Italy’s mountains between July 4 and 7, authorities said.
