More Peaks Collapsing In Italy's Dolomite Range - Reuters

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ROME - "Freak weather has caused the collapse of some of the most famous peaks in the Italian Dolomites in what some scientists say is an effect of global warming.

In little more than a month at least four massive rock formations have fallen away from the northern Italian mountain range, dramatically altering its landscape of jagged, rose-coloured peaks and the routes tens of thousands of climbers use to trek them. "It's lucky the rock collapses didn't happened in August when it's summer peak season. People could have been hurt," said a spokeswoman at the tourist office in Val Gardena, a village near the Austrian border.

Scientists say erosion was the primary cause behind the surprise rock falls that have destroyed landmarks around ski resort town Cortina, including one of the Five Towers rock formation and the summit of the "Il Piccolo Cir" mountain. Around 1,000 cubic metres (35,000 cubic feet) of the 2,500 metre (8,200 foot) rock outcrop crashed to the ground below last week, taking with it a centuries old wrought-iron cross that marked the end of the climb for trekkers who reached it.

Scientists say the erosion process was accelerated by a summer of violent storms and an unseasonably cold and snowy winter that followed last year's hottest summer in 250 years."

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/26377/story.htm