A remarkable and seemingly dangerous incident occurred last weekend involving a plane during the Trofeo Mezzalama, a prestigious ski mountaineering race through the Swiss Alps.
While dozens of skiers were on the Monte Rosa glacier, on the border between Italy and Switzerland, a Piper PA-18 Super Cub suddenly landed on the snowy mountain. The plane, registration HB-OKB and owned by the Aéroclub de Genève, unexpectedly touched down on the slope.
A video recording of the event shows that the plane did not come to a stop after landing. Instead, it immediately turned around, accelerated, and terrifyingly ‘glided’ very close to the passing skiers before taking off again. A shocked Italian participant exclaimed, “How criminal!”
Unfassbar, was sich der Pilot eines Kleinflugzeuges am Samstagmorgen auf dem #MonteRosa geleistet hat.????Teile des Gletschers sind zwar als alpine Landebahn zugelassen, doch dieses Manöver war ziemlich sicher nicht legal. (Video Luca Calzone)#Bergwelt #Schweiz #Alpen #Wallis pic.twitter.com/vXVGqWFN9N
— Bergwelt???????? (@bergwelt_me) April 28, 2025
The pilot’s action is likely to have consequences. The plane was on the mountain for less than thirty seconds. But there has alr been a wave of outrage on social media regarding the so-called ‘touch and go’. A blog about the Swiss Alps wrote, among other things: “It is unbelievable what the pilot of a small plane did on Monte Rosa on Saturday morning. Although parts of the glacier are approved as landing strips, this action was almost certainly illegal.”