Two skiers were killed and one more was injured in an avalanche in Courmayeur, a ski resort located about 135 miles from the 2026 Winter Olympics events in Milan, on Feb. 15.

At least a dozen people have died in the Italian Alps in a single week, more than any other one-week period on record.

La Usc di Ladins is not like any of the news outlets flown into town covering the Games, or like most of Italy’s other publications. The weekly newspaper reports in Ladin, the Alps’ oldest language, dating back to Roman settlement in 1 B.C.E.

Two American skiers were rescued near an Olympic venue in Livigno after getting lost backcountry skiing. Thermal imaging drones helped locate the men on Tuesday night.

Livigno is a quintessential European ski village located in the Italian Alps near the Swiss border. It's also one of six cities in northern Italy hosting events for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Call it homefield advantage, call it national pride. Italy's athletes are shining in the Winter Olympics underway in Milan and the Alps.

The Italian media are calling it a hecatombe-- massacre. At least 83 people have died in the Italian Alps between June 21 and July 23, and five others are missing. That averages out to almost three deaths a day. This week added two more victims to the list.