A British pensioner and his Dutch companion have frozen to death in the Italian Alps after apparently becoming stranded in a fierce blizzard.

Reg Clarke, 70, an experienced mountaineer from Horsham, West Sussex, was climbing through some of the highest peaks in Italy with his friend when the accident happened.

The two frozen bodies were found huddled together by an alpine guide on Saturday morning.

Mr Clarke and his long-time climbing companion, Johannes Ruiter, 47, arrived at the base of the Monte Rosa mountain range on Thursday to start their climb.

The two men, who carried out almost the same expedition last year, set out at 8am on Friday aiming to reach the Capanna Margherita refuge – the highest in Europe at 4,554m (14,940ft) above sea level – near the Naso del Lyskamm peak.

Hours after setting out a storm blew in and trapped the men in temperatures as low as -15C (5F). Their bodies were recovered the following day, 500m from a shelter.

Mr Clarke, a former teacher and Scout leader, was a committee member of the East Grinstead Climbing Club near his home. Yesterday Mr Clarke’s wife, Jean, and son, Jim, who climbs with the same club as his father, were unable to speak about his death, but another climber, Trevor Clarke, no relation, paid tribute to the mountaineer.

He said that the two dead climbers had been climbing together for years and knew each other extremely well. He added: “It is very sad. This accident must have been a pure mishap. Reg was so experienced he would not have knowingly put his life in danger. The weather probably overtook them.

“He had been climbing for a long time. He had skill and experience by the bucketload. He was a cut above the norm.

“Although he had climbed everywhere and gone up some very difficult peaks, he was very modest about his achievements. He never bragged about what he had done. He was an impeccable gentleman and always willing to share his expertise.”

Adrian Botting, secretary of the East Grinstead Climbing Club, said: “We are all very sad about what has happened.”

The deaths of Mr Clarke and Mr Ruiter are the third and fourth on Mount Rosa within a week to be caused by the treacherous conditions currently engulfing the range. In two other incidents an Italian climber was killed and a German lost his life.

Adriano Favre, head of rescue services in the Aosta Valley region, said that the two latest bodies were discovered 4,000 metres above sea level.

He said: “I suppose they lost their bearings as weather conditions deteriorated sharply. The weather has been appalling during the past 72 hours – more like midwinter than midsummer. It looks as if both men were trapped by the bad weather, which had been forecast. But they were not prepared for it. They spent the night in freezing conditions.”

Corinne Favre, who watched Mr Clarke leave her refuge at the foot of the mountains, said: “He seemed expert enough and in good physical shape, perhaps in better shape than his companion.”

She said that the two men simply sat down next to each other amid the wind and snow and had died “in a very short time”.

The Monte Rosa range, in the Pennine Alps, peaks at 4,634 metres at Dufourspitze in Switzerland, the country’s highest mountain. The massif also includes some of the Alps’ few remaining glaciated areas.

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