Moment skiers narrowly avoid disaster after passing helicopter sheds its load with enormous gas cylinder then careening down piste in Italy

This is the moment skiers narrowly avoid disaster after a passing helicopter drops its load with a huge gas canister and then hurtles down a slope in Italy.

The helicopter can be seen transporting goods under a perfect blue sky over the Aprica ski resort in the Sondrio province in the north of the country.

The plane dropped its payload before the gas cylinder hit the ground in a puff of snow and then hurtled down the slope, dangerously close to skiers descending the mountain.

The cylinder gained speed and grazed a skier who managed to avoid it in time, while other people in its path moved to the side of the slope, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reports.

Fortunately, no one was injured and the cause of the incident, which took place on Sunday, is not yet clear.

The helicopter transports goods under a perfect blue sky above the Aprica ski resort in the Sondrio province of northern Italy. The plane dropped its payload before the gas cylinder hit the ground in a puff of snow and then hurtled down the slopes, dangerously close to skiers descending the mountain.

Aprica enjoys relatively good conditions, with most of the ski area open.

It comes as more and more ski lifts across Europe have come to a standstill as resorts struggle to cope with the lack of snow after an exceptionally mild winter.

Grim images show entire mountains looking bare, when normally in the high season of mid to late February they would be covered in snow and crowded with winter sports fans.

In the French ski resort of Saint-Colomban-des-Villards, the lifts are at a standstill due to a lack of snow, while temperatures rise to 13 degrees Celsius. It is a situation that newspaper Le Parisien describes as ‘unprecedented’, with locals declaring: ‘I never thought I would experience this in my lifetime.’

Similar scenes have been reported at the Artouste ski resort in the Pyrénées Atlantiques, where slope-preparation machines are set up in a field next to motionless ski lifts.

You can see the object as it travels down the slopes at high speed as it passes skiers. The helicopter then flew with the rest of its goods after the incident in Lombardy, northern Italy

According to the newspaper Kronen Zeitung, resorts in Austria have also been affected by the closure of the Tyrolean ski area Mutterer Alm. And last week, photos emerged of dozens of snow cannons being used to strengthen the cover of the Swiss Leysin resort.

Earlier this month, ski lifts were switched off and snowmaking machines left behind on the grass of the 2,000-metre Terminillo mountain in Italy’s Apennines after it became ‘too hot’ to use artificial snowmaking, a lifeline for many resorts struggling with shortages.

The snow shortage comes at the height of the ski season, when thousands of Britons normally prepare to fly to the Alps to enjoy winter sports.

Further afield in Bosnia, visitors to Mount Bjelasnica this week dragged their skis through the mud to reach the ski lifts, as spring-like weather after the planet’s hottest January spoiled their usual winter activities.

One hopeful skier, Aida Dedic, who had traveled to the Bosnian resort from the Netherlands, said: ‘I was surprised when I saw this mud, it is different from last year.’

“That’s probably due to these climate changes.”

FRANCE: This was the scene on Monday at the Artouste ski resort in the Pyrénées Atlantiques, France, where the dry ground is visible and piste preparation machines line up with nothing to do

FRANCE: A gondola lift will be shown going over bare fields and trees at the Artouste ski resort in France on Monday. Normally, skiers enjoy snowy slopes

FRANCE: People walk across a patchy snow cover in the Artouste ski resort on Monday

SWITZERLAND: This was the scene earlier this month in the Swiss resort of Les Mosses with a thin layer of snow on an otherwise bare field

Other European ski destinations, such as Italy, have also seen entire mountains without snow and ski centers abandoned.

After a warm December, skiers in the mountains around the Bosnian capital Sarajevo enjoyed a few weeks of colder weather and some snow, but in February the melt came.

One skier, Denis, from Croatia, said: ‘Unfortunately there is no snow.’

‘We made reservations before, but we didn’t want to give up because the children were really looking forward to it.’