Top climber, 55, plunges 1,000ft to death in front of horrified friends after she slipped & fell on mountain in Italy
A MOUNTAINEER plunged 1,000ft to her death after slipping into a rocky ravine in front of her horrified friends.
Monica Reginato, 55, from Castelfranco, slipped and fell from the Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ski resort in northern Italy, on Saturday (April 20).
She had been hiking with three of her friends and had all of the safety equipment, including crampons, but it was not enough to avert disaster.
Reginato had reportedly been carrying skis on her back when she fell to her death.
The emergency services were called to the scene on the Sorapiss mountain in the Dolomites, within the Veneto region, at around 3:30pm.
A helicopter and medical personnel arrived but could only confirm that Reginato had died instantly.
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She had reportedly fallen hundreds of metres into the gully, with rescuers having to use a 20-metre winch to retrieve her body.
Local media said her friends were treated for shock.
Reginato was reportedly an experienced mountaineer who had taught mountaineering school for more than 20 years.
She was a member of the Scuola Le Torri rock climbing group, who paid tribute to their former mentor in an emotional social media post.
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A statement on Facebook read: "We will miss you, but your family will miss you even more. We send our thoughts of condolences and closeness to you.
"A sincere thank you to the Alpine Rescue workers for doing everything possible and for the precious work they do every day."
The page then revealed Reginato's funeral had been arranged for Wednesday, April 24, and that she would be buried in the Castelfranco Veneto cemetery.
"Her mother Domitilla, her brother Giovanni, her nephews Francesco and Riccardo, her uncles, all her friends and relatives remember her with immense pain," the post read.
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