The climber who fell and died on the Zugspitze has been identified. The dead man is a 61-year-old man from the district of Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, according to the police.
According to an eyewitness, the man was on the Höllental via ferrata just below the summit on Friday. A small snow slide caught the 61-year-old and swept him away, according to a police spokesman. According to the information, the mountaineer fell about 400 meters deep before he came to rest on the Höllentalferner glacier, fatally injured.
The called rescue workers could only determine the death of the man. Eleven other climbers who were nearby and noticed the accident had to be rescued by helicopter because, according to the police, they were in shock and the rescue workers were expecting more descents on the via ferrata. A via ferrata is an artificial climbing path that is built on rock faces or along mostly steep rock passages.
The investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing. Third-party debt is currently not assumed.
Because of the wintry conditions in the summit regions, such snow slides are not uncommon. According to the police, further departures are to be expected in the next few days and weeks.
