GENEVA, Sept 23, 2008 (AFP) - A 24-year-old Italian climber fell 400 metres (1,300 feet) to his death on Sunday in the Swiss Alps, local police said Tuesday.

His body has just been identified, but police are still unsure how the accident happened. He had reached an altitude of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet) when he fell.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Frenchman Julien Absalon took his mountain bike status to new heights on Saturday when he became the first rider to defend the men's Olympic cross country title.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Frenchman Julien Absalon took his mountain bike status to new heights on Saturday when he became the first rider to defend the men's Olympic cross country title.

At only 28 years old, he said motivating himself for a third consecutive gold in London should be no problem.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - France's Julien Absalon took his mountain bike status to new heights on Saturday when he became the first rider to defend the men's Olympic cross country title.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - A first Olympic mountain bike participation for Zimbabwean Antipass Kwari ended in disaster here Saturday after the African suffered an early puncture and abandoned the race.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Olympic mountain biking results on Saturday:

1. Sabine Spitz (German) 1h45:11.

(Average speed 15.2 km/h)

2. Maja Wloszczowska (POL) at 41.

3. Irina Kalentyeva (Russia) 1:17.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Germany's Sabine Spitz capped a commanding display in the women's mountain bike cross country race here Saturday to claim her maiden Olympic gold.

Maja Wloszczowska of Poland finished second to take the silver with Russian Irina Kalentieva winning the bronze.

BEIJING, August 23, 2008 (AFP) - Defending Olympic champion Gunn-Rita Dahle of Norway abandoned the women's mountain bike cross country race here Saturday.

Dahle, who came into the race with slim hopes of a medal, pulled out before the end of the fourth of six laps of the course.

GILGIT, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Pakistani helicopter plucked the last known survivor of a climbing disaster from the slopes of K2 on Wednesday, ending a gruelling five-day ordeal on the world's second highest peak.

ROME, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A German climber died Wednesday and two others were seriously injured in an accident at a mountain on the Swiss-Italian border, Italian rescue workers said.

'Four mountaineers fell into a crevasse this morning while climbing Liskamm,' Adriano Favre, a mountain rescue worker from the northern Italian Aosta Valley region told AFP.

GILGIT, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Pakistani helicopter plucked the last known survivor of a climbing disaster from the slopes of K2 on Wednesday, ending a gruelling five-day ordeal on the world's second highest peak.

GILGIT, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Pakistani helicopter airlifted an Italian climber from K2 Wednesday, five days after he survived an ice avalanche which killed 11 others on the world's second highest peak, officials said.

ROME, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - An Italian climber who survived an avalanche that killed 11 people near the Himalayan summit of K2 mountain in Pakistan has spoken of his relief to be alive, an Italian news agency report said Tuesday.

GILGIT, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - A frostbitten Italian climber said he was glad to be alive Tuesday as he limped into K2 base camp after surviving an ice avalanche which killed 11 people on the world's second highest peak.

GILGIT, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - A frostbitten Italian climber limped into K2 base camp Tuesday after an ice fall that killed 11 others, but swirling cloud prevented helicopters plucking him from the world's second highest peak.

ISLAMABAD, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - A frostbitten Italian climber who survived an avalanche that killed 11 other climbers on K2, the world's second highest mountain, finally reached base camp on Tuesday, officials said.

But helicopters have been unable to pluck Marco Confortola from the 5,200-metre (17,060-foot) camp because of heavy cloud and rain around the mountain, they said.

GILGIT, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - A severely frostbitten Italian climber faced another day marooned on Tuesday as clouds and rain grounded helicopters trying to pluck him from K2, the world's second highest mountain.

GILGIT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Pakistani army helicopters airlifted two frostbitten mountaineers from K2 and tried to save another Monday after a catastrophic ice fall on the world's second highest peak killed 11 climbers.

GILGIT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Pakistani army helicopters evacuated two frostbitten mountaineers from K2 and tried to save another Monday after a catastrophic ice fall on the world's second highest peak killed 11 climbers.

ISLAMABAD, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - In the world of big mountain climbing, there are two types of ultimate challenge.

The first is Everest, the world's highest mountain and as such a must for any Himalayan peak bagger, assuming they can also put up with the crowds of big-spending adventure tourists, piles of garbage and queues at the summit.

GILGIT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Pakistani rescuers Monday saved one climber stranded on K2 and tried to help another after a catastrophic ice avalanche on the world's second highest peak killed 11 mountaineers.

GILGIT, August 4, 2008 (AFP) - Pakistani rescuers Monday saved one climber and tried to help another stranded on K2, the world's second highest peak, as the death toll from an ice avalanche rose to 11, officials said.

ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - At least nine climbers were killed and three others are missing after an ice avalanche near the summit of K2, the world's second-highest peak after Mount Everest, Pakistani tour operators said Sunday.

ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - At least nine mountaineers died near the summit of K2 in the Himalayas when a huge chunk of ice sheared off the mountain and hit them, and several more climbers were missing, Pakistani tour operators said Sunday.

LONDON, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - An Irish climber was given up for dead by an experienced mountaineering friend Sunday, on top of nine confirmed victims of a chunk of falling ice on the world's second-highest peak.

ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - At least nine mountaineers died near the summit of K2 when a huge chunk of ice sheared off the mountain and hit them, and several more climbers are missing, Pakistani tour operators said Sunday.

ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - At least seven mountaineers died near the summit of K2 when a huge chunk of ice sheared off the mountain and hit them, and several more climbers are missing, Pakistani tour operators said Sunday.

ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - At least seven climbers have died in northern Pakistan after scaling the 8,611-metre K2 peak in the Himalayas, an expedition official said Sunday.

'According to latest updates I can confirm seven casualties,' Adventure Foundation Pakistan vice president Mohammad Akram told AFP.

MADRID, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Several mountaineers are dead or missing on the 8,611-metre K2 peak in the Himalayas, Spanish media reported early Sunday, saying Basque climber Alberto Zerain had escaped.

BERLIN, July 18, 2008 (AFP) - German police said Friday they were investigating the deaths of two men who died of exhaustion and cold just short of the finish line at an Alpine mountain foot race last weekend.

The victims, aged 41 and 45, were among 600 participants in the Zugspitz Extremberglauf (Zugspitz Extreme Mountain Run) to Germany's highest peak.

ROME, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - A Spanish man in his twenties fell 300 metres (about 1,000 feet) to his death as he climbed the face of a mountain in Italy's Mont Blanc Alpine range, local rescue services said on Sunday.

The mountain rescue service from the Valle d'Aosta region did not reveal the identity of the rock climber or the man who was with him at the time of the accident.

CHAMONIX, France, May 4, 2008 (AFP) - A British adventure skier fell to her death late Saturday while climbing on Mont Blanc in the French Alps, rescuers said.

The 24-year-old, from Kent in southern England, was killed on the spot by the 300-metre (yard) plunge, when she and her companion lost their footing at a height of some 3,900 metres (12,850 feet).

CHARMONIX, France, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - Western Europe's highest mountain Mont Blanc is taller than ever due to snow piled atop its summit, in what experts meeting in France Saturday described as a climate-change related phenomenon.

The Alps' tallest peak was measured at 4,810.90 metres (15,784 feet) on September 15 and 16 -- a 2.15 metre increase in two years, surveyors from France's Haute-Savoie region announced.

BERLIN, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Scientists on Wednesday began boring into Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, to implant a range of temperature sensors to monitor the effect of climate change on its permafrozen state.

A cable carrying 25 sensors will be lowered 60 metres (197 feet) into the 2,962-metre-high (9,719-foot-high) mountain in the southern region of Bavaria.

'Boring into the highest peak in Germany will be both a technical and logistical challenge of the highest order,' said Dr Andreas von Poschinger, of the Bavarian state environment office.