Messner slams penalties for reckless climbers in Italy

Feb 8, 2010, 12:04 GMT

Rome - Record-breaking Italian mountain climber Reinhold Messner, criticised Monday a proposal that follows a series of deadly Alpine accidents and seeks tougher penalties for people guilty of reckless behaviour on Italy's slopes.

Messner, described as an 'hysterical reaction,' the government's reported plan to fine, and even punish with prison sentences, hikers or skiers who provoke avalanches and rock-slides.

'Such legislation can kill mountaineering,' the 65-year-old Messner said according to the ANSA newsagency.

Instead climbers, mountain-guides and officials need to 'debate and establish where tourism ends and where mountaineering begins,' said Messner, who in 1978 became the first person to climb Mount Everest without the help of bottled oxygen.

A 49-year-old who woman died on Monday was latest victim of a weekend of avalanche-related accidents in northern Italy in which at least eight people were killed.

Earlier, rescuers digging through piles of snow and ice near the north-eastern town of Belluno found the body of 63-year old Mirko Cesco, who on Sunday evening was reported missing by his wife after he failed to return from a climb.

While heavy snowfalls and strong winds increase the risks, in '90 per cent of cases' avalanches are caused by skiers, whose off-track excursions take them to areas where snow conditions are less stable, according to Italian Meteorological Society president Luca Mercalli.

The government reportedly plans to introduce a decree, backed by Italy's Civil Protection rescue services, in which people who fail to follow weather advisories in mountain areas are liable for fines of up to 5,000 euros (6,800 dollars).

Mountaineers deemed responsible for accidents resulting in injuries or deaths could face a yet unspecified amount of time in jail.