Doomed Swiss ski family’s terrifying last moments: Rescuers say victims ‘panicked and scattered’ during ferocious Alps storm after trying to dig snow caves with shovels that were too small before they froze to death

The lead rescuer deployed to find five Swiss skiers who died in a brutal Alpine storm has described how the doomed crew desperately tried to make an igloo for shelter but panicked and became delirious before ultimately freezing to death.

Air Zermatt chief Anjan Truffer explained how his team discovered several bodies scattered on the mountain after the six-person strong group, five from the same family, pushed on with a tour despite hurricane-force winds of up to 70mph being forecast.

‘First we found two people lying on the snow, severely hypothermic. Thanks to sounding poles and avalanche locators, we later found two more people lying under the snow cover. We had to shovel these out. 

‘Another person was lying about 30 meters away. When we found the people, they were very lightly dressed… they ended up disorientated at high altitude,’ he told Swiss outlet NZZ.

He added that the ski tourers had tried to build a cave and protect themselves from the gales – in temperatures of -30 degrees C with windchill – to no avail. 

‘That’s actually a good idea. But the group didn’t have the necessary equipment with them. They had shovels, but they were too light to do anything with this massive blanket of snow. Panic might’ve broken out and the group scattered,’ Truffer concluded. 

Mountain guide Klaus Aufdenblatten told Blick that the ski tourers were grossly underprepared for the ill-advised trip.

‘The alpinists completely underestimated the weather conditions. The wind in particular can develop enormous power,’ he warned.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the identities of all the deceased, but two victims were named as Jean-Vincent Moix and his brother David by friends and colleagues on social media. 

Another brother, a cousin and an uncle were also killed in the tragedy and a sixth person is still missing.

The group of six skiers, who ranged in age from 21 to 58, had left Zermatt Saturday morning with the goal of reaching the town of Arolla, near the Matterhorn mountain, later that day.

But as the group passed close to the Tete Blanche, a mountain peak between Zermatt and Arolla, the region was engulfed in a brutal storm that left the skiers stranded at an altitude of around 11,400ft (3,500 metres).

A member of the group sent a distress call to emergency services around 5pm on Saturday afternoon, authorities said, but helicopters and rescue teams were unable to deploy, such was the ferocity of the storm.

By the time a rescue team finally reached the mountain on Sunday evening, five of the six alpine enthusiasts had perished close to the Dent Blanche alpine cabin. 

Colleagues of Jean-Vincent paid tribute to him yesterday, including the mayor of Vex – a small village in the Swiss canton of Valais where the deceased had only recently been elected as a councillor.

The former private banker, who was also educated at the University of Westminster, was a keen mountaineer and had decided to switch careers.

Mayor Sebastien Menoud said: ‘It is such a huge tragedy to lose a colleague on the local council.

‘Our thoughts are with him, his family and those around him and we express our deepest condolences to them.

‘One knows that it is an immeasurable pain that his family is now confronted with.’

David also lived in Vex, and was a lawyer.

A friend of the brothers, Lucas Nanchen, posted on Facebook: ‘Why is it always the best ones leave first?

‘David (like his brothers) was the epitome of selflessness, always listening. David was very generous. Lowkey he never came forward and yet he could have.

‘The mountains of his region, which he knew by heart and cherished so much, took him away.

Last night, a group of around 300 people in Vex gathered for a memorial procession, laying candles before listening to a performance by a local brass band, of which Jean-Vincent was a member.  

Christian Varone, head of Valais cantonal police, told reporters yesterday that rescue workers had pulled out all the stops to try to reach the stranded skiers on Saturday evening but faced horrendous conditions.

‘We were trying the impossible,’ he said, adding that the mission had pushed its efforts ‘to the extreme, extreme limit’, but were forced to turn around to avoid ‘seriously endangering the lives of the rescue workers’.

‘Sometimes you have to bow before nature.’

Truffer confirmed that emergency services received a distress signal from one of the skiers at around 5:19pm local time on Saturday.

This, he said, gave rescuers a rough location in the Col de Tete Blanche, whose peak stands at 12,160ft above sea level.

Truffer told Blick that the weather was so bad that flying in to rescue the skiers simply wasn’t an option.

He said there were ‘very strong winds, heavy snow, high avalanche danger, and zero visibility’ which would leave rescuers ‘dead in two minutes’.

He added that when the group left Zermatt, the bad weather conditions were already known and he believes that the skiers were caught in the storm rather than struck by an avalanche.

With helicopters unable to brave the storm, five rescuers had tried to reach the rough location on foot from Zermatt, but they too were forced to turn back at an altitude of 9,840ft due to the bad weather, according to local media reports.

On Sunday, a team consisting of two rescue workers, a doctor and a mountain police officer, was finally able to be dropped off by helicopter nearby, police said.

‘At around 9:20 pm, it reached the Tete Blanche sector, where it discovered the bodies of five of the six people who were missing,’ it said in a statement.

The search is continuing for the last member of the group.

‘As long as there is hope we will keep going… while remaining realistic in view of the conditions this person has been in for the past 48 hours,’ Varone said.

Fredy-Michel Roten from the Valais Rescue Organisation told local press that six private rescue helicopters and two Swiss army Super Puma choppers are participating in the rescue mission along with dozens of specialist mountaineers.

Valais lead prosecutor Beatrice Pilloud told reporters that an investigation had been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Zermatt is a popular mountain resort renowned for skiing and attracts tourists from around the world. 

Tete Blanche in particular is very popular with ski tourers who are attracted by the region’s renowned landscape and the challenging terrain it offers. 

The region hosts the esteemed Patrouille des Glaciers race, which sees ski tourers traverse a route from Zermatt through Arolla and on to Verbier. 

But the area is notoriously difficult to navigate during periods of poor visibility, and has proven fatal for even highly experienced skiers and mountaineers.

Nearly five years ago, tragedy struck when 14 members from two ski touring parties became disoriented amidst a fierce storm on treacherous slopes. 

The ensuing rescue operation endured for almost 21 gruelling hours before reaching the stranded groups. 

Seven people died, while the rest were evacuated with varying degrees of injury.