Philip Norton
BBC News
Chiavenna, report from Italyphillip Norton/BBC
A missing Matthew Hall friend is in Italy and helps with the search
A friend of Hal’s hikers who went missing in northern Italy began to follow his steps to find him.
Matthew Hall, who was staying at the B&B Ploncher hotel in Chiavenna, Lombardi, has been missing since July 9th.
Seven of his friends, including people who have known him since school and a colleague at Quickline at an East Yorkshire broadband company, jumped out to join the search.
They said three helicopters, multiple mountain rescue teams, police and specialized drones work 24 hours a day and are trying to find Mr Hall, 33, who is described as a “very capable” walker.
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Matthew Hall sent a selfie to a friend at local time (13:30 BST) before he went missing on July 9th, his mother said.
Hall’s friend Benjamin Lee said the group was planning a trek “to gain terrain visibility.”
Lee said Italian officials informed them that in addition to the police and their resources, a total of about 30 rescue teams were looking for friends.
“It’s 24 hours, and we’re getting updates from our team in the middle of the night,” Lee said.
Another friend, Nick Broman, described Hall as a “very capable” solo hiker.
He added:
“They cover all the square meters.”
Both men said the community was “incredible.”
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Matthew Hall sent a photo of Alpe Dalu’s cross near San Giacomo Filippo to a friend the day he went missing, his mother said.
On Monday, Hall’s mother, Sarah Foster, said:
In the final text sent to his friend Jacob White on 13:37 BST on the day he went missing, Mr. Hall told him he thought he had taken the “wrong turn” on the trail and was “resting.”
White said Hall “sounded relaxed” in the text, the latter asking him about his own holiday in Cornwall.
He added that his friend “sounded as if the danger he might have seen was over.”
In a statement, Quickline described Hall, who had been working as an engineer for the company since January 2023, as a “good-received colleague.” It added that it wants “safe and positive outcomes.”
A foreign ministry spokesman said, “We are supporting the families of British people who are missing in Italy and are in contact with local authorities.”
A sturdy landscape
Analysis by Philip Norton
It’s easy to see why Matthew Hall drove two hours north of Milan to the mountains around Chiavenna.
It is a stunning part of the Italian Alps, passing through towns and villages, bowling you with valley views, towering mountain peaks and buzzing turquoise glacier meltwater.
But the scenery poses danger.
I joined Mr. Hall’s group of friends and helped me find him here.
The first thing you will notice is how steep the sides of the mountains are.
The trail cuts through the house and garden. A mixture of broken stairs and grassy rocks.
The ground is uneven, sturdy, and perhaps even what is described as part of the trail’s tamer, there are some difficult drops from the sides.
But Hall is a skilled hiker and often enjoys strolling with friends in his hometown of Lake District.
He is also an avid snowboarder, so he thrives and practices mountain rules and dangers.
The search team continues to scrutinise the mountainous areas he saw last.
Helicopters have become a familiar sight in the sky here for the past few days.
And while that search continues, Mr. Hall’s friends hope that he can be safe and return home with them.
Philip Norton/BBC
A friend of Matthew Hall followed on one of the local trails he believed he hiked on the day he went missing.
