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)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two climbers, whose bodies have not yet been identified, died while climbing the dent d’Hérens in canton Valais Wednesday 24 August, bringing to six the number of people who have died in mountain accidents in the Swiss Alps in the past week.
The pair were climbing the peak at 09:45, at 4,050 metres, say canton Valais police, when for unknown reasons they fell 400 metres to their deaths. The pair were roped together.
Valais climbing death: trainee guide falls to his death
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 17-year-old Valais youth died in hospital Friday 12 August, a week after being involved in an altercation with a 15-year-old in the village of Réchy. The young man was kicked in the chest and lost consciousness Saturday 1 August during a village festival. He was taken to Sion Hospital, where he had been in a coma since and where he died Friday morning.
The two were involved in an argument, according to police inquiries, early in the evening of Saturday 6 August, and the youth who died punched and broke the glasses of the 15-year-old. The two were separated by security services but later in the evening the younger man kicked the other one; the circumstances are not yet clear.
Both youths are Swiss and live in the region. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.
Guide was climbing Egginergrat alone
Valais police Friday 12 August also announced the death of a 28-year-old Jura man who had been training as a mountain guide. He had taken a group climbing Thursday, then left them at the Allalin restaurant in Saas Fee before heading out to climb the Egginergrat on his own.
When he didn’t return Thursday night a search mission was sent out and his body was found at the foot of the mountain, several hundred meters below where he had been climbing.
Dreieckhorn on the left, Aletschhorn on the right (photo, Wikipedia)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 28-year-old Dutch woman died when she fell 200 metres and her 28-year-old climbing companion was gravely injured when he tried to save her and then also fell, late Monday 11 July, near Aletsch, in canton Valais.
The two fell as they were coming down from the Dreieckhorn. They were part of a group of four Dutch climbers who were not roped together.
The woman slipped and lost her balance, and when one of the others tried to grab her he, too, slipped and fell into a void.
The two others contacted emergency services and an Air Zermatt helicopter plus a mountain rescue team went to the scene. The injured man, whose life is not in danger, was taken by helicopter to the Ile de Berne Hospital.
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.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – One young man has died and a second has been rescued by an emergency team on the Aiguille de Midi in the Chamonix region of France, the Tribune de Geneve reports. The newspaper was told by Chamonix police that the two 19-year-olds were climbing the north face of the Aiguille de Midi Tuesday, when they ran into trouble with the weather. They contacted the mountain patrol and were told to stay put for a second night Wednesday, due to weather conditions.
For reasons that are unclear one of them then fell 400 metres to his death and the other contacted the French patrol service Thursday with the news. A foot patrol set out to find them but failed, due to weather and it was 02:00 Thursday before the survivor was picked up by helicopter.
Details have not been provided about where the two young men are from.
SION, SWITZERLAND – A 55-year-old man from Bern has died from a 12-metre fall into a ravine while hunting for mineral rocks in the Goms (Conche) Valley in canton Valais.
The man was in an area between Muehlebach and Steinhausen.
The region is noted for its mineral wealth and is a popular hiking and rock-hunting area.
click on image to view larger
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 50-year-old businessman from Staffordshire in the UK is the second person to die from non-road accidents in Geneva in the past week. Stephen Swinson flew into the city Friday 20 May to help take down a steel structure after an exhibition. He was the owner of a steel structures company. The scissor lift platform he was working from tipped over and he sustained head injuries in his 8-metre fall, according to This is Staffordshire.
The accident occurred last Sunday and he was taken to the Hug university hospitals in Geneva. He never regained consciousness before his death later in the week. His wife, children, parents and other family members flew to Geneva after the accident.
His death follows that of a 48-year-old Geneva woman whose body was found by firefighters Friday evening 20 May when they were putting out flames from a blaze at 84, Carl Vogt, where the woman rented an apartment.
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.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A man in his 30s died Friday morning 18 February in Orbe, shortly before 10:00, when the skylight of a hangar he was helping demolish gave way under his weight. He and two other men had just been lifted by crane to the roof, and the worker stepped onto the skylight.
He fell 10 metres to his death. An ambulance arrived promptly but he was declared dead at the scene of the accident. His co-workers were treated in hospital for severe shock, say Vaud police.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – WRS radio reports that a woman who fell from the first floor balcony of the Grand Théâtre Saturday evening 30 January remains in serious condition and will have surgery. The Tribune de Geneve and Le Matin earlier reported that the woman was leaning against a barrier when it gave way, and she plunged four metres, injuring another member of the audience.
“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
An 18-month-old French child’s parents are being held by Paris police for 24 hours on suspicion of child neglect, but that is the one obvious bit of bad luck in the child’s life after three lucky strokes Monday. The child fell from a seventh floor window in the 20th arrondissement of the city but escaped unharmed. The cafe on the ground floor that normally rolls up its awning forgot to do so and the baby landed on the awning. A child walking with his parents pointed out the baby just before he fell and the father of the observant young one rushed over and caught the baby as it tumbled from the awning, having missed any metal rods. Luck again: the baby’s hero is a doctor and he was quickly able to ascertain that the child had come to no physical harm.
A neighbour told French media that he had seen the little one and a four-year-old sister playing near the open window before the accident. The parents had left the children unattended.
Links to other sites: Le Figaro, France 2 TV
Sales of previously-owned homes in the US fell by more than 27 percent in July, the worst drop in 15 years, fueling fears of a double-dip recession and pushing the Dow Jones stock market average below the 10,000 level. The National Association of Realtors published figures showing 3.83 million homes were sold, a drop that was more than twice what industry analysts were forecasting.
Link to other sites: Bloomberg/Business Week, Guardian, National Association of Realtors
Leysin, canton Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The bodies of two students at the American School of Leysin, both just short of 20 years, were found Saturday morning, Vaud police say. The two, apparently under the influence of alcohol, left a school fete and did not appear by the end of the day Friday, at which point the school contacted canton Vaud authorities. The young woman was American, the young man Moroccan, according to Swiss media (official report not yet available).
Toyota’s US operation said 27 January it is stopping sales of some of its top models and will probably have to recall another 1.1 million cars for safety reasons. The company has already recalled 2.3 million cars because of safety concerns over floor mats that could jam the accelerator, but these are part of a larger problem that has seen the company recall 6 million cars for problems linked to acceleration, according to Reuters. The company’s shares fell 2 percent on the Tokyo stock market Wednesday, following the latest news.
Verbier, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - 20 Minutes reports that a 44-year-old Geneva man and his son were freeriding in Verbier, at Bec des Rosses, following the Xtreme competition trail, when the father fell into a gully and slid 600 metres Sunday 17 January. The newspaper says the man’s life is not in danger but that he suffered multiple serious injuries. The report has not been confirmed by Valais police.
Myles Robinson and his father Michael
Update 2 Bern / Wengen, canton Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A body found by a private group searching for 23-year-old British tourist Myles Robinson has been confirmed as that of the missing man, Bern cantonal police announced late Tuesday 29 December. He was found at the foot of the “Mönchsblick” viewing point, between Wengen and Lauterbrunnen. He appears to have fallen from a cliff near an area called “Steinhalten” which is not easily reached.
Police say that the autopsy did not provide any information about the possible involvement of a third party, but investigations are continuing under the direction of a judge, to determine what happened in the period before Robinson died. The judge decides what further action, if any, will be taken.
Related stories, GenevaLunch
Map of the area View Larger Map
Berlin Monday 9 November is recalling the fall of the wall that divided East from West, politically if not necessarily geographically. Thousands of tourists are in the city for celebrations and commemorative events on the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. Key figures at the time, including Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and Polish union leader Lech Walesa, are taking part in ceremonies.
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, Telegraph, UK and Deutsche Welle home page 9 November featuring special section on the Berlin Wall, in English
Background: Wikipedia on the Berlin Wall, Media coverage of the wall from 1961-1989 from Newseum
Update 16 September Yverdon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The mother of a young child who fell out of a window and died while she was out partying has been given a six month suspended sentence for negligent homicide. The state prosecutor had asked for a 10-month prison sentence plus two years suspended sentence in the trial of a 24-year-old woman who left her three-year-old daughter alone while she went out for most of the night with friends. The child died in December 2006 after falling out of a six-storey kitchen window. She had managed to pull a chair up to the window, which had been left open, and climb out, then fell to her death.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss television TSR (Fre) late Thursday carried an update which raises more questions concerning the much-publicized story of a Saudi tourist who was badly injured and then robbed in Geneva, appearing to give credence to initial police reports that the man had not been randomly attacked, but had fallen. The report notes that the man had spent several thousand francs in a rue du Rhone discotheque in the centre of Geneva during the evening, was witnessed by several people to be drunk and aggressive, and he had possibly been involved in a fight.
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.
