A cancer nurse tragically died after she fell hundreds of feet while on a hike with her boyfriend in Italy.
Valentina Fino, who was 31 years old, was with her boyfriend in the Italian Apennines on August 10th. The pair was hiking up the Pietra Tagliata pass, and all was going well for most of the trek. Andrea Pedata, who was Fino's boyfriend, even took a video of Valentina as she climbed up the trail.
In the video, Valentina was wearing hiking boots, shorts, and a backpack. She was "confidently guiding herself up the rock face with the help of some wires," and appeared entirely in control of the situation.
The pair of hikers, according to Unilad, spent plenty of time together in the outdoors. Moreover, hiking was one of their favorite hobbies. This is all to say that Valentina's fall was certainly unexpected.
Woman Fatally Falls from Hiking Trail while with Boyfriend
Reportedly, the pair were working their way up the Barbarossa trail when Fino slipped. She would fall roughly 100 meters and sustained fatal injuries.
Andrea heard her scream as she slipped, and even saw her fall. Andrea quickly called for help, and made efforts to reach Valentina, but she was unfortunately deceased by the time any help was able to reach her.
Police ad firefighter helicopters eventually were able to recover Fino's body. Andrea lamented that the pair had "many plans together," for the future. He continued on to say that Valentina had "left doing what she loved most in the world."
According to the Alpines Mountain Rescue website, in 2022, rescue teams intervened in over 10,000 rescue missions. The site continued to mention that over 45% of interventions are a result of a fall or slip.
The 10,000 interventions feels like a mighty high number. Such a number is a strong reminder to all that accidents can, and do, happen in the outdoors. In the case of Valentina, she was even a well-practiced hiker.
Preparedness and intentionality are extremely important when preparing for outdoor excursions. While it can be difficult to perfect, the practice of expecting the unexpected is paramount to avoiding such incidents.
