An extreme sports enthusiast has been killed by an 820ft-wide avalanche.
Federico Giubilato was skiing off-piste with a friend when tragedy struck.
Federico, who would have turned 42 years old today (30 Mar), was buried in about 5.2ft (1.6m) of ice.
His 36-year-old friend was able to break free of the snow with just a hand injury.
He was then able to alert the emergency services.
The mountain rescue team arrived in two helicopters about half an hour later.
It took a further 30 minutes to dig Federico out.
He had passed away by the time they reached him.
The pair, who came from Bassano del Grappa, in northern Italy, were skiing in Marchkopf, Austria, when the avalanche hit on Saturday afternoon (28 Mar).
Federico, a mechanical engineer with a degree from the University of Padua, had always been passionate about mountaineering.
He also practised extreme sports such as downhill mountain biking, surfing, climbing, and freeskiing.
He suffered a serious injury in 2019 and spent over two years recovering, as reported by NeedToKnow.
At the time, he wrote: “Events sometimes happen with unimaginable speed: in a fraction of a second, you make a mistake, you realise your error, you try to correct it, you realise the attempt to correct it is futile, you hit the ground running, you feel your body no longer responding, the worst thoughts invade your brain, you’re back to square one.
“Time expands and contracts, demonstrating the relativity of its perception.
“The push comes from within, the desire to go back to doing what makes me feel alive.
“The push comes from the waves of affection from those around me.”
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