29 April 2011

Swiss Mountaineer Loretan Dies in Climbing Accident

Friday, 29 April 2011

Police in Switzerland said Friday that famed Swiss mountaineer Erhard Loretan has fallen to his death in a climbing accident on his birthday.

The 52-year-old Loretan died Thursday while guiding a client up the summit ridge of the Gruenhorn in the Bernese Alps. They were at a height of 3,800 meters when, for unknown reasons, the two men fell around 200 meters. Loretan died at the scene, while his companion was flown to a hospital in serious condition.

The Swiss climber was one of just three men to scale all 14 of the world's peaks rising above 8,000-meters, completing the feat at the age of 36. Loretan was also well known for his 1986 nighttime ascent of Mount Everest without using bottled oxygen, in just 40 hours.

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