Hundreds of volunteers in the Alps are helping migrants cross from Italy into France through treacherous terrain and freezing temperatures.

Many men, women and children – sometimes thousands – attempt the journey every month, and aid networks on both sides of the border rely on long local traditions of solidarity to run shelters and give out food, clothes and medicine.

They clear paths in the snow and wait for migrants at night to lead them to safety without being stopped by border patrols who could send them back to their first country of arrival in the European Union.

“We have sub-zero temperatures, snow, fog… It’s hard enough for young men, you can imagine what it is like for women, children and old people,” said Beatrice Pasquale, who works for the Italian medical charity Doctors for Human Rights.