Overview

• The mountaineer slipped off-route in dense fog and plunged roughly ten meters into a hidden crevasse while ascending the Höllentalferner toward the Zugspitze.
• A fellow climber witnessed the fall and alerted Bergwacht Grainau, whose first helicopter team located the victim head-first and trapped ten meters below.
• A second flight brought additional rescuers and a helicopter doctor, who stabilized the hypothermic climber before airlifting him to Klinikum Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
• Rapidly deteriorating weather underscored the persistent dangers of unroped glacier travel as thick clouds and snowfall can obscure crevasse hazards.
• Climate-driven steepening of Germany’s largest glacier has contributed to crevasse incidents every few years, prompting calls for strict rope-team protocols.