A British woman who fell to her death while hiking in the Italian Dolomites with her partner has been named as Louise Atkinson, a 55-year-old teacher from Yorkshire. Local reports suggest the woman was on the popular hiking destination of Catinaccio when she fell 100ft on to the rocks below, at around 2pm on July 24, YorkshireLive reports.
According to the MailOnline, the teacher from Ripon, North Yorkshire, was with her partner John Dickinson when they found themselves at a high altitude after taking a wrong turn. Because of this more 'challenging route' they 'turned back' because they did not have the right equipment to continue, a mountain rescue spokesman said.
The spokesman added Ms Atkinson slipped and fell around 35 metres just before rejoining the correct route. It is understood the 55-year-old died at the scene. "Her partner and others who had seen what happened raised the alarm but there was nothing that could be done", the spokesman told the Mail.
Ms Atkinson, described as a keen runner often see jogging and cycling around Ripon, then slipped and plunged 100ft to her death.It came around a week after a 54-year-old hiker fell to his death nearby.
The route the couple ended up on is the Via Santner and it is described in guide books as 'challenging' and takes around five hours to complete. It also requires clipping on with carabiners - which the couple did not have.
Originally built in the First World War by Austro-Hungarian soldiers and their Italian enemies, they used ladders fixed to the mountain sides as well as cables and ropes and the system was used to transport weapons, ammunition and food to high altitude positions
Earlier this month, an avalanche on the Dolomites killed nearly a dozen people when a huge chunk of ice detached from a melting glacier and sent a torrent of ice, rock and debris on to hikers below.
The latest Dolomites death is the second confirmed tragedy involving Britons in Italy in the last week. It follows the death of businessman Aran Chada, a 51-year-old sales director from Leicestershire, who is thought to have had a seizure when he leapt from a boat into Lake Garda to save his young son from drowning.
