Slovenian avalanche kills one Croatian mountaineer and leaves two missing on Tosc Mountain

# Slovenian avalanche kills one Croatian mountaineer and leaves two missing on Tosc Mountain

Rescue teams in Slovenia have recovered the body of one Croatian mountaineer after an avalanche on Tosc Mountain, while two others remain missing and search work has been paused because of harsh weather. The incident has turned a weekend climb into a difficult rescue operation in the Julian Alps.

The event date is 2025-10-05. According to the AP report, the three missing men were part of a seven-person Croatian mountaineering group heading up Tosc in northwestern Slovenia when the avalanche struck. Four members of the group stopped earlier to rest, while the other three continued and were caught by the snow slide.

That sequence matters because it shows how quickly conditions can change in alpine terrain. A group that appears to be moving along a normal route can be split by timing, weather and slope conditions in a matter of minutes. In this case, the source says the group was on the mountain on Sunday when the avalanche hit, and only later did rescue teams locate one body.

Searchers have had to contend with rain, snow and the risk of additional avalanches. The AP report quotes rescue official Klemen Belhar saying conditions were poor and that a helicopter could not be used because of the weather. That kind of constraint often defines mountain rescue: teams can be highly trained and still be limited by visibility, slope stability and the danger of triggering another slide.

Police in nearby Kranj suspended the search for the day and planned to resume on Monday. That pause leaves the fate of the two remaining missing climbers unresolved. The report does not say whether search teams have any new leads or whether the weather is expected to improve enough to speed up the work.

The mountain where the avalanche happened, Tosc, sits in a country that is a popular destination for mountaineers. Slovenia’s alpine terrain draws hikers and climbers from across the region, but early cold spells can create conditions that are far less forgiving than they appear from valley floors. The AP notes that Slovenia had already been hit by cold weather bringing early snow, winds and low temperatures.

Those weather conditions are not just background. They are part of the risk profile. Fresh snow can destabilize slopes, and rain on top of snow can make avalanches more likely while also complicating rescue access. The source does not assign blame or say the hikers ignored warnings. It simply records that the stormy weather made an already dangerous situation harder.

The fact that the victims were Croatian mountaineers also gives the incident a cross-border dimension. Mountain rescue in the Alps often involves neighboring countries because hikers travel freely across the region and emergencies can quickly become international stories. For the families waiting for news, though, the nationality of the group will matter less than the practical question of whether the two missing climbers can be found in time.

For now, the confirmed facts are sparse but stark: one body recovered, two people still missing, rescue work delayed by bad weather, and a mountain route that turned lethal in seconds.