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A tourist who was spotted climbing to the summit of Germany’s highest mountain in sandals has been branded “stupid”, as concern grows over holidaymakers who head to the Bavarian Alps without proper equipment.
In video footage taken by a mountain guide, a man was filmed waiting to ascend metal rungs and a ladder bolted to the rock face to reach the summit of the Zugspitze mountain.
The section is remarkably steep and experts advise climbing it and other sections of the mountain in sturdy walking boots.
Reinhold Messner, a veteran climber from the German-speaking South Tyrol part of Italy, was dumbfounded by the tourist’s decision to go in high-end cork sandals.
“It’s just stupid. These people are not real mountaineers. Everyone should be responsible for their own life. If something were to happen, Alpine rescue will be burdened with it,” he told Bild.
Part of the Bavarian Alps on the border between Germany and Austria, the Zugspitze stands at 2,962 metres (9,718ft) and boasts one of the country’s last glaciers.
Visitors can take a cable car to a station just beneath the summit – which around half a million people did last year – and from there hike to the top or go back down in the cable car. Experienced hikers can opt to climb the whole way.
The video of the tourist in sandals has been seen more than 1.5 million times and attracted 1,300 comments, most of them critical of his choice of footwear.
The Austrian mountain guide, who shot it, said sarcastically: “Germany’s highest Instagram spot. It’s really great how people get out and about. Nothing surprises me any more.”
He added: “Pit Schubert would have been delighted”, referring to a renowned climber and the founder of the German Alpine Club who helped make mountaineering equipment safer.
The clip comes as already 35 people have died in the mountains of Bavaria and the season is still in full swing, according to Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s minister for sport. During the whole of last year, 41 people died.
Last summer, a group of four Italian hikers had to be rescued by helicopter after clambering high up into the Dolomites wearing Teva-style sandals.
The hikers, two women and two men in their 20s and 30s who had a pet dog with them, climbed to about 2,000m above sea level on the rocky flanks of Monte Rua in the northern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia before calling for help.
The Italian Alpine Rescue Service published on social media a photo of two of the tourists, wearing light shorts and strap-on sports sandals.
“We’ve had to rescue people wearing sandals and groups who, in the space of a few hours, managed to get lost three times on the same path,” the rescue service said on Instagram.
Source Agencies
