An Austrian mountaineer is to appear in court accused of gross negligent manslaughter after his girlfriend died of hypothermia when he left her close to the summit on a climb that went dramatically wrong. The 33-year-old woman, identified only as Kerstin G, froze to death on 19 January 2025, about 50 metres below the summit of the Groglockner, Austria's tallest mountain, after an ascent of more than 17 hours with her boyfriend, Thomas P, 36.
Mountaineers and climbers, especially the free-solo kind, are humanity's most fascinating maniacs: single-minded, daring souls who throw themselves into profoundly optional life-endangering feats. It is hard not to be compelled, and appalled, by someone like Alex Honnold. Even with ropes, a single wrong move can mean death in mountaineering, a mad human activity that puts you at the full mercy of nature.
Almost a year ago now, the couple began the ascent of Austria's highest mountain, the Grossglockner (3,798 m or 12,461 ft), via its southwest ridge a long, complex route with sections that are especially treacherous in winter. They began their ascent at 6:45 a.m., and shortly after 1:00 p.m. they were less than 250 meters from the summit. At that point, coinciding with the most difficult section of the route, their progress stalled, and nightfall soon overtook them.
There is just a beautiful layer of snow on the ground deep in the woods. And it is still and cold. I'm starting early, climbing a mountain called Wright Peak. That means moving through near darkness in the hour before sunrise. There's just enough light in the woods. I can see, but there's no color. It's just like I'm walking through this black and white world of snow and charcoal lines of the hemlock trees, the boughs already really heavy with snow.
Two mountain climbers have died on Aoraki, New Zealand's tallest peak, with two others from the same group rescued, authorities said. The climbers' bodies have been found and specialist searchers were working to recover them in a challenging alpine environment, the police area commander Inspector Vicki Walker said on Tuesday. None of the climbers have been publicly identified. Sgt Kevin McErlain told the Timaru Herald the pair had been connected by a rope when they fell near the summit of Aoraki, also known as Mount Cook.
Jornet's adventure, dubbed States of Elevation, involves climbing all the 14,000-foot peaks in the Lower 48 and traveling between them by foot and bicycle. He climbed 56 Colorado mountains in 16 days this month, then bicycled nearly 900 miles to the Eastern Sierra to take on California's highest. In three days starting on Sept. 24, he hit the summits of Norman's 13, setting what is expected to be confirmed as the fastest known time for a supported trek of the high-altitude route.
Ojos del Salado rises more than twenty-two thousand feet above sea level, on Chile's northeastern border. It is the world's tallest volcano, towering over the world's highest desert: an ash-and-scree-covered behemoth that exceeds Elbrus, Kilimanjaro, and Denali in size, if not renown. Its name means "sources of the salty river," or, possibly, "eyes of salt," which is what the brackish lagoons on its lower reaches resemble when your brain is starved of oxygen.
Mountaineering isn't just a sport. Reaching the summit brings an incredible sense of relief. And it's proof that you can overcome your physical and emotional challenges, even after extreme hardship.
Mountaineering, for me, and the outdoors is probably what saved my life. It's my outlet. I want to try to encourage people not to let disabilities limit them.
