An alpinist from Wels died in 1971 at the age of 54 in the Glockner area of Upper Austria. His body was only recently found by two hikers in a crevasse. At the Traunstadt Alpine Club there are some last memories of the “dashing mountaineer”.
He was a police officer and a pretty ‘cool’ mountaineer.” – Egon Kepplinger, veteran of the Alpine guild “D’Schermbergler Wels”, can’t think of much more than that about Engelbert Zauner. No wonder, since he hasn’t had any of the missing alpinist had heard. On September 7, two hikers discovered a glacier corpse in the Kaprunertal, more specifically in the Fusch an der Glocknerstrasse (Salzburg), at about 2,800 meters in the Hochgruberkees area.
Hardly any doubt about identity
The body was recovered by Alpine police and flown to the valley by helicopter. The autopsy showed that, according to previous findings, it was Engelbert Zauner, then 54 years old, who had been missing in the Wiesbachhorn area since August 1971. Although the results of a DNA comparison are still pending, authorities have no doubts.
A total of 262 deaths
The Salzburg mountain rescue service lists the deaths in the Kapruntal online. The list starts in 1853 with an avalanche accident and currently extends to 2020, when a 24-year-old from Maishofen died in a fall from a crevasse on Schmiedingerkees – a total of 262 deaths.
Engelbert Zauner from Wels is listed at number 182 in this Alpine Death Book. The date of death is stated as August 24, 1971.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
