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Before the snows, it was a tough but manageable 14 kilometre trek from Bardonecchia in Italy via two tunnels and steep, rocky slopes to reach the first village on the French side, Nevache, population 340.

“They saw the lights of the village from up above so came down and knocked on the door or window of the first houses they came across,” said Ravary. “We are all mountain folk here. We don’t ask questions, we take them in. Our duty is to save people. If we were sailors it would be the same.”

Photo by SOPHIE LAUTIER/AFP/Getty Images

So while some villagers offer overnight shelter, others take turns patrolling the snowy pass after sunset for lost souls, carrying gloves and hot drink to revive those strong enough to continue, and calling mountain rescue for those too weak to go on.

“We were in a moral dilemma,” said Bernard Liger, 82, a retired battalion commander who now runs a “humanitarian commando” to help the migrants.

“If we did nothing, many would be lost, if we did something people would say we were ‘opening the door’.”

He has sent a petition signed by 45,000 people to President Emmanuel Macron calling on him to prevent these mountains becoming “the peaks of shame”.

“After much discussion, we agreed that border security is not our problem, that’s for politicians and the police. Our job is to minimize the number of frozen bodies come spring,” he said.

After much discussion, we agreed that border security is not our problem, that's for politicians and the police. Our job is to minimize the number of frozen bodies come spring

That risk is very real. Everyone here knows the story of Mamadou Ba, a 29-year-old Malian. He had been working as a cheese vendor in Paris for three years but was refused re-entry into France after renewing his stay permit in Italy.