2019-03-01ReadersDigest_AUNZ

March• 2019 | 125

READER’S DIGEST

struck, he’d gone to get some aspirin
for his wife from their car.
“Are you OK?” Salzetta called out.
Parete appeared disoriented,
distraught. “My family is inside the
hotel,”hewailed.
Salzetta, keeping his composure,
clearedthesnowfromtheexhaust
pipe of Parete’s BMW X5, and the two
climbedinside.Findingacellsignal
withParete’sphoneseemedtotake
forever.Atleast30timestheydialled
theemergencynumber,onlytolose
the connection. At last, they reached

a dispatcher and Parete blurted out
what had happened.
“That’s impossible,” she insisted.
“I have family inside!” Parete
yelled.“Ipromiseonthelifeofmy
sonitwasanavalanche.”Butthe
emergency dispatcher, perhaps con-
fusing Parete’s report with an earlier
call about a possible house collapse,
wassurethathewasexaggerating.
Parete hung up in frustration.
For two hours they tried with no
success to get a better signal. Finally,

around 7pm, Parete reached the

owner of the restaurant where he

worked. Again Parete explained what

had happened. “Call the emergency

number,” he told his boss. “Help us.”

The boss jumped into action. A few

minutes later, Parete’s phone rang.

On the line was Antonio Crocetta,

the chief of the region’s alpine rescue

team.

“We’re coming,” Crocetta prom-

ised him.

“How long will it take?”

“Fiveorsixhours.”

Darkness had set in, and Parete

and Salzetta sat alone and afraid

insidethecar,themotor running, the

heat now blasting.

Into the Storm

At his base in the village of Penne,

Crocetta alerted the military police,

and mobilised his team of 14 men

trained in rescue operations. Reach-

ing the resort would mean trekking

ten kilometres up the mountain.

By9pm,therescuesquad–which

included a surgeon, an anaesthetist,

a dog handler, a search dog, and two

veteranalpineguides–assembledon

theroadjustoutsideFarindola.Each

mancarriedashovelandasonda,

acollapsibleprobeusedtopoke

through snow and rubble to prod for

bodies.Theyslippedoncross-coun-

try skis, pulled on their masks and

trained their headlamps into the

storm. Then they started, single file,

up the mountain.

The snow–and

everything it

broughtdownthe

mountain with it

• ripped the hotel
  from its foundation