Alpinist freezes to death

Mountain rescuer describes death drama on the Grossglockner

View from Kals to the Großglockner: the Stüdlgrat ridge descends to the left of the summit. (archive picture).

(Bild: Sigi Hatzer)

A gale and the cold proved fatal: Kals mountain rescuer Toni Riepler described the dramatic rescue operation for two Salzburg alpinists on the Großglockner on Sunday night to the "Krone" newspaper. Unfortunately, all help came too late for a 33-year-old woman. The woman froze to death around 50 meters below the summit.

As reported, the alpinist and her 36-year-old boyfriend had set off from Kals on Saturday at 6.45 am with touring skis and mountaineering and climbing equipment in the direction of the Glockner. The duo wanted to climb Austria's highest peak via the Stüdlgrat and then descend via Kleinglockner and Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte (Adlersruhe). But this did not happen.

Strong winds made the ascent difficult
"The conditions were actually good, but gale-force winds made the ascent very difficult," explains Kals mountain rescuer Toni Riepler, who is also the landlord of the Erzherzog-Johann-Hütte.

According to the police, the Salzburgers reached the so-called "Frühstücksplatzl" at an altitude of around 3,550 meters at around 1.30 pm. The following applies to this point: if you need more than three hours to get here from the Stüdlhütte, it is better to turn back.

But the duo did not. Despite technical problems and physical difficulties, they continued their ascent. At around 6 p.m., the two alpinists were then captured by webcams in the form of points of light. 

Photos from the webcam bear witness to the nocturnal mission:

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Fotos

Route even more challenging in winter
According to Riepler, mountain guides with guests need between three and five hours to complete the route via the Stüdlgrat (difficulty level in the lower four) to the Glockner in summer. A winter ascent is, of course, much more challenging, especially in gales and correspondingly cold weather. Wind chill (the temperature feels much colder, note) makes climbing even more challenging.

Six of us climbed up to the woman in around five hours because the police helicopter couldn't take us all the way up due to the storm.

Bergretter Toni Riepler

Bild: Wallner Hannes

"It's difficult to communicate with your rope partner in a storm - especially with long rope distances - your fingers are cold and walking with crampons doesn't make climbing any easier," Riepler knows from experience.

Woman wanted her boyfriend to descend alone
It is unclear why the couple continued to climb during the night. Other climbers had turned back in time because of the hurricane. In any case, at around midnight, the two were finally unable to continue around 50 meters below the summit. The 33-year-old was too exhausted. Apparently, her boyfriend was unable to raise the alarm by phone from the spot.

According to the police, the 36-year-old stayed with his girlfriend for a while. However, she then asked him to descend to the Adlersruhe alone. The 36-year-old complied with his partner's request. At around 3.40 a.m., he then managed to raise the alarm from the Adlersruhe.

An extremely demanding night-time rescue operation by the Kals mountain rescue team and the Alpine police began. "Six of us climbed up to the woman in around five hours because the police helicopter couldn't take us all the way up due to the storm," explains Toni Riepler. The helicopter was then able to fly additional rescue teams up to around 3200 meters.

Woman froze to death in the freezing cold
However, when the mountain rescuers and alpine police arrived at the victim, all help was too late for the woman. The completely exhausted alpinist had frozen to death in the freezing cold just below the Glockner.

Body recovery also extremely difficult
The recovery of the body posed new challenges for the twelve rescue workers who had climbed to the very top. The helicopter was still only able to reach an altitude of 3,200 meters. The dead body had to be transported around 600 meters down the ridge. "We had to abseil her down again and again, the longest abseiling section was around 300 meters," says Riepler, describing the extremely demanding mission. Finally, the police helicopter flew the dead woman down to the valley. 

The mountain rescuers also brought the woman's uninjured rope partner and friend down to the area where the helicopter was able to pick him up.