Late Sunday morning, December 1, an experienced mountaineer suffered a fatal fall on the Alsatian side of the Hohneck massif, near the town of Stosswihr (Haut-Rhin). An investigation is underway to determine the causes of the event; the accidental route is favored.
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The outing with friends turned into a tragedy. Around 11 a.m., Sunday December 1, 2024, a group of five mountaineers, from the Vosges, witnessed the fall of one of its members. The 42-year-old man, who fell more than 200 meters, was declared dead by emergency services in the morning.
The group was progressing on the ridge between the summit of Honeck and the Schaeferthal pass, on a slope dependent on the commune of Stosswihr, in Haut-Rhin. The unfortunate incident took place while passing the Dagobert corridor.
“While crossing a patch of snow, one of them slipped despite wearing crampons. says Stéphane Douillet, chief warrant officer in operation on Sunday December 1st. Two of his comrades went down into the ravine to help him and began cardiac massage.
They then called for help and a civil security helicopter was dispatched to the scene.
It was a complicated intervention due to the victim's pathology, it had to be done very quickly.
Stéphane Douillet, chief warrant officer of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon 67
“The corridor no longer had snow where we found it but it was in a pile of more or less unstable blocks and frozen streaming water, this forced us to take additional precautions to be able to evacuate it quickly, he and his comrades descended to his level“, explains the gendarme.
The victim's cardiac activity did not return despite the efforts of emergency services and death was noted shortly after the intervention.
Could clumsiness be the cause of death? An investigation has been opened to determine the exact causes of the climber's death and an autopsy of the body is planned in the coming days. At this time, the accidental trail is favored by the gendarmes.
“He was a mountaineer who was used to progressing in the mountains, who regularly went out with the French alpine club, adds Stéphane Douillet, he knew how to walk with crampons, he was equipped for the passages he planned to go through.”
Emergency services also claim that the weather conditions on Sunday were “excellent” for mountaineering, whether mountaineering or hiking.
