Top alpinist Grega Lačen dies

During the descent from Mlinarsko sedlo towards Češka koča, 43-year-old Carinthian alpinist Grega Lačen suffered a fatal accident yesterday late afternoon, Radio Slovenija reported.



He was climbing in Dolgi hrbet with his climbing partner, but during the return, a slip proved fatal for the alpinist. 12 Jezerski mountain rescuers participated in the rescue operation. The uninjured climbing partner was escorted on foot to the valley.



It is a demanding secured mountain path, which is currently under snow, and descent is made with alpinistic equipment using a combination of climbing and walking. While traversing, the alpinist fell from this very steep path over a high precipitous wall and lay dead under it on the compacted snowy scree. He was properly equipped, the Kranj Police Administration reported.



The newspaper Večer writes that Lačen was climbing with an experienced alpinistic colleague from Koroška, Andrej Gradišnik, with whom they repeated, among others, the most famous route in the Ak Su valley in Kirgizija – Perestroika Crack.



He also led the first independent Koroška expedition to the Karakorum mountain range and completed numerous other demanding ascents at home and abroad, marking Slovenian alpinism with his top achievements.



Lačen died on the very day when, as part of the Koroška outdoor festival in Mežica, they commemorated Karničar after his fatal accident last September.



The beginning of the year in the mountains is very tragic. That it is dangerous higher up and also lower down is shown by the increased number of accidents, Kranj police also reported. Therefore, they again warn of great caution. Most accidents occur during descent, in snow the most dangerous are slope traversals, the most common reasons being slip and fall. In current conditions, both can happen very quickly; one wrong move or one disturbing factor, such as a phone, is enough.



Source: https://www.rtvslo.si/sport/preostali-sporti/umrl-vrhunski-alpinist-grega-lacen/511995