GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - A 48-year-old German climber died after falling 20 metres into a crevasse while climbing the Allelinhorn near Saas Fee. He and his guide, also German, had left the Mittelallelin lift station and skied across the Feeglatscher.
At about 3,700 metres the climber lost a pole when they were on a very steep bit. The guide told him not to move while he fetched it, because just a few metres further there was a crevasse that runs the length of the glacier. He unroped himself and took off his skis and backpack. When he returned, his client, who had moved from the spot, had fallen into the glacier.
The rescue team that was called was too late and could only declare the man dead at the scene of the accident, say canton Valais police.
Xenia Minder, Loretan's companion, who survived the fall that killed the world-famous climber (TSR interview)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Erhard Loretan, Swiss climber of legendary stature, shocked the world with his death on his 52nd birthday in April 2011, in a fall climbing a mountain he knew well, the Gruenhorn, and that should have been relatively easy for him. He was roped to another climber, identified only as a client, a 38-year-old woman from Canton Bern.
The woman, Xenia Minder, who initially refused to allow her identity be known or to make a statement, came forward and talked to Le Temps and to TSR’s “Paju” (Passe-moi les jumelles) about Loretan’s death, the death of his child 10 years earlier, where he was accused of manslaughter, and of the fine line between guilt and innocence for those left behind.
Minder had been Loretan’s close companion, not just a client. She was a far less experienced climber than the man who is often called the finest mountain climber Switzerland ever produced. By age 36 he had climbed all 14 world mountains of 8,000 metres or more. He began climbing at age 11.
Loretan’s 7-month-old child died after being shaken briefly by his father, who was given a suspended sentence and a fine in 2003 for negligent homicide. Loretan then pushed for more public information about the dangers to children of being shaken.
Minder says that in her final moments she prayed not to have pain before dying, but in the end it was her guide and close companion of two years who died. He remains her guide, she says, in how to live with the guilt that you have caused someone else’s death. As a judge she says she must believe in and respect the law, but she has now been forced to reflect on how very fine is the line between guilt and innocence in some situations.
Minder says she lost her balance and dragged both of them down some 200 metres. She was injured in the fall that caused Loretan’s death but in the interviews she doesn’t speak of her own injuries, called serious by police at the time of the accident.
Minder is a judge in canton Geneva’s civil courts.
Ed. note: Club Alpin Suisse is hosting an evening in memory of Loretan 19 November in Crans-Montana, with film footage and memories shared by his close climbing companions Jean Troillet and André Georges.
TSR video (Fre)
Taeschhorn, scene of climbing accident in canton Graubuenden
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 55-year-old man from Solothurn died Saturday 10 September after climbing the Taeschhorn in canton Graubuenden, in the company of a guide.
The small group of climbers was coming down from the peak and heading towards Taeschalp at 12:15.
They had just removed their ropes five minutes before, according to the guide, and were walking along Weingarten glacial moraine when the man fell 100 metres to his death from the edge of a cliff.
The Moench, viewed from the Jungfrau (photo: Dirk Beyer / wikipedia)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A 51-year-old Dutch climber died when he fell while coming down from the Moench to Lauterbrunnen, in canton Bern, Wednesday 31 August.
He was climbing with a friend and during the afternoon they began their return, down the south face of the mountain.
When they were at about 3,940 metres the first climber heard a noise and saw the other, who was not roped, falling.
He alerted rescuers but he was dead when the Air Glacier team arrived on the scene, say canton Bern police.
The Moench is one of the three triplet mountains that are hugely popular with climbers: the Eiger, the Moench and the Jungfrau.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two people were killed this weekend in mountain accidents. A 68-year-old German motorcyclist was killed Sunday afternoon 14 August at the Maloja Pass in canton Graubuenden and his 62-year-old passenger injured when he crashed while passing a caravan being pulled by a car shortly before the final bend at the top of the pass. Initial reports indicate that he hit the left rearview mirror on the car and crashed into the guardrail on the left.
Sunday at 10:35 a climber lost her life in a fall in the area of the Festi-kin-Luecke near Randa, in canton Valais. She was climbing at 3,650 metres and was not roped. Canton Valais police have not released details while identification is underway. They are investigating the cause of the accident, which was unclear initially.
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 42-year-old Italian man lost his life Saturday 25 June at 15:50 while climbing the Galenstock (3,370 metres) in the upper Goms (Conches) valley in canton Valais, after falling 200 metres to his death. Details of the accident are not clear and due to bad weather, an Air Zermatt helicopter was able to collect his body only Sunday morning.
The man was with two other climbers but they decided to turn back due to heavy fog and strong winds. The man continued his ascent alone but for unknown reasons fell to his death before reaching the top.
SION, SWITZERLAND – The death of fabled climber Erhard Loretan, who died 28 April on his 52nd birthday while climbing the Gruenhorn in canton Valais, was an accident, and the cantonal justice department has closed the case, TSR has revealed. The judicial report is available only to the families of Loretan and the 38-year-old woman, a client from Bern, who was climbing with him the day of his death.
The roped pair fell as they were climbing a ridge at 3,800 metres, for unknown reasons.
The woman was seriously injured and TSR reports that she is still traumatized by the accident and does not want to talk to the public about it.
Loretan was one of Switzerland’s most famous climbers who achieved world fame as one of the few people to climb 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000 metres, died Thursday 28 April in a fall in canton Valais. He captured the world’s imagination in 1986 when he made a 40-hour ascent of Mount Everest at night, using no oxygen. He took 13 years, from 1982-95, to climb the 14 tallest peaks.
SION, SWITZERLAND – A climber’s body was recovered by an Air Zermatt helicopter rescue team Wednesday morning 15 June from the Hohbalm glacier. Witnesses alerted authorities that the climber, whose identification is being checked by police, appeared to be descending the Nadelhorn alone qt 08:40 when he fell 200 metres to his death, onto the glacier.
The Nadelhorn is part of the Mischabels mountain system that lies between the Zermatt and Saas Fee valleys. It is one of Switzerland’s 4,000m-plus peaks, at 4,327 metres.
Finsteraarhorn, canton Bern's highest peak, 4,274 metres
Geneva / Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A climber died Sunday while attempting the 4,274-metre Finsteraarhorn, say canton Valais police. The victim was a 39-year-old German man, who lived in Germany.
He was climbing with one other person, a woman. The pair left the Finsteraarhorn hut Sunday morning to climb to the peak. They turned back at a point called “Hugisattel” due to poor weather conditions. The Hugi saddle is about an hour below the summit and is named after the Swiss climber who first ascended the peak.
The Finsteraarhorn is the highest mountain in canton Bern and the third highest peak in the Swiss Alps.
The two were not roped together and for reasons that are not yet clear the man had a fatal fall at an altitude of 3,900 metres.
Woman in critical condition after 200 metre fall
Update 11:20 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Erhard Loretan, one of Switzerland’s most famous climbers who achieved world fame as one of the few people to climb 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000 metres, died Thursday 28 April in a fall in canton Valais. He captured the world’s imagination in 1986 when he made a 40-hour ascent of Mount Everest at night, using no oxygen. He took 13 years, from 1982-95, to climb the 14 tallest peaks.
The mountain guide, whose 52nd birthday was Thursday, was leading a 38-year-old Bern woman on a climb in upper Valais, near the cantonal border with Bern, when the roped pair fell as they were climbing a ridge at 3,800 metres, about noon Thursday. Another climbing party spotted the traces of the fall and called 144 soon after, at 12:14, say Valais police.
The two were climbing in the Fieschertal area and had reached Gruuenegghorn, where they left their skis. They then climbed the summit ridge in the direction of Gruenhorn when, for reasons that are not yet clear, the roped pair fell 200 metres on the northwest face.
A helicopter rescue was not possible due to fog in the area, and two rescue teams climbed to the spot only to discover the man’s body and the woman in a critical state. Loretan’s body was identified only late Thursday. The woman was carried out and then taken by helicopter to a hospital.
TSR in March 2011 filmed an interview (French) with Loretan and fellow climber Andre Georges, about the work, challenge and joy of being climbing pioneers.
Rescue column searching avalanche, Bourg-St-Pierre
Geneva and Sion, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four people lost their lives in three separate accidents in the Swiss Alps in 48 hours.
Two of them died Sunday 13 March in an avalanche, bringing to five the number of people who have died in avalanches in the past 10 days in the region, four of them since Saturday.
A 43-year-old Valais man and his 11-year-old son died in an avalanche in Bourg-St-Pierre, not far from Verbier, late Sunday.
A German man who was climbing in snowshoes to the Wildstubel near Leukerbad died Saturday evening after he ran into health problems and was unable to reach safety.
And a Swiss man, age 38, died Monday as he was driving a van up the main road to the Simplon Pass, when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed head-on into a truck driven by a 37-year-old Slovakian man. The truck driver is in serious condition.
Father and son caught by avalanche on dis-used ski slope
“He is lucky to be alive” say rescuers
(Update, Sky video interview added) A 36-year-old hiker, Adam Potter, was shaking from shock but standing and looking at a map when a helicopter rescue team found him Saturday 20 January some 300 metres below the summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, near Ben Nevis. He had climbed to the top with a group of friends, then lost his footing and tumbled to the bottom. A Royal Navy helicopter was flying in the area and was called on for the rescue, but when they saw a man standing at the bottom they assumed it could not be the fallen climber, so they went to the top again and tracked his fallen gear.
Two climbers fell about 200 metres and survived, in Scotland, in 1999, with injuries that were somewhat worse than Potter’s scrapes.
The Guardian quotes the observer for the rescue team as saying “”It was quite incredible. He must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell, almost flying.”
Video, Sky News
Update 2, 21:10 Saas-Fee and Bourg-St-Pierre, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Four people have died in Valais in climbing accidents over the weekend of 11-12 July. A 47-year-old Italian climber fell more than 300 metres to his death from a cliff at about 3,300 metres altitude shortly after leaving the Mischabels hut near Saas-Fee early Sunday afternoon 12 July. He was part of a group of four Italian climbers.
Ticino, Switzerland (24 Heures, Fre)- A Swiss woman, 43, died Monday 30 March after a fall of several metres while decending a rocky wall in the mountains above Padaro. She was climbing without a safety rope. She was an experienced climber who had already done several excursions in the area. The woman was with her husband and two friends.
