tragedy on the highest German mountain

July 14, 2008

The 8th version of the “8. Zugspitz Extremberglauf” in the German Alps turned out to be a sad event. Two people died in the event during a cold snap. The 41 and 45-year old Germans died because of a combination of exhaustion and hypothermia. Especially tragic is the fact, that the two had only about 10 minutes to the finish. One runner was found at an altitude of 2700m and the second one at 2800m – both were attended by medicals from the mountain rescue service, but the reanimations were in vain.

A sudden change in weather with snow falls, freezing temperatures and wind gusts surprised most of the 550 runners that went on the 14,7km long journey including 2100 meters altitude difference. Several more runners were hospitalised.

Even if the race organisers warned the runners about the conditions and that there might be snowfalls on the Zugspitze, the race was not cancelled.

original enclosure (in German) Spiegel.de