Before the eyes of his 31-year-old son, Robert Renzler, the long-standing ex-Secretary General of the Austrian Alpine Club, fell 60 meters in the Schmirntal valley.
Schmirn – Robert Renzler was one of the great climbing luminaries in Austria: The mountain and ski guide had completed more than 1,000 climbing tours on the great north faces of the Alps, in the Dolomites and in Yosemite and on expeditions to Gasherbrum II (8,034 meters) and Masherbrum (7,821 meters) in the Karakoram Mountains (Pakistan) safely led.
Austria: Exceptional alpinist falls 60 meters to his death on the Brenner – son has to watch it
Now the 67-year-old Tyrolean had a fatal accident on a rock face just six kilometers from his hometown of Gries am Brenner: On Saturday, Renzler and his son (31) climbed the 200-meter-high Stafflachwand in the Schmirntal, which near Gries leads from the Wipptal to the Brenner to the east branches off. The Stafflachwand has the level of difficulty 4 (“big difficulties. Here the climbing begins in a sharper direction”) – i.e. a medium-difficult wall, the difficulty scale goes up to 8 and higher.
The saving grip was empty – exceptional alpinist noticed the mistake
“After the last rope length, the two abseiled down the separately set up abseiling piste,” reports the Tyrolean police. That’s when Renzler made the fatal mistake: According to initial investigations, the 67-year-old “did not fix himself at all or incorrectly in the abseiling station” before he released himself from the abseil device. The exceptional alpinist noticed the mistake and tried to grab the free-hanging rope!
The grip went nowhere, Renzler fell backwards in free fall over 60 meters to the foot of the Stafflachwand. With the help of another climber, his son immediately abseiled down to his father and tried to revive him. The 67-year-old was then rescued by an emergency helicopter using a rope, but succumbed to his injuries at the intermediate landing site.
Robert Renzler was Secretary General of the ÖAV from 2002 to 2020 and has been an honorary member since 2021. “With Robert Renzler, the Alpine Club family loses an extraordinary personality whose commitment leaves a deep and lasting impression on the Alpine Club,” said ÖAV President Andreas Ermacora and ÖAV General Secretary Clemens Matt on the association’s website. “His sudden and unexpected death shocks us deeply and fills us with deep sadness. Robert Renzler lost his life in an activity that was not just a passion for him, but the essence of life itself.”
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