Two hikers die at Zawrat and one suffers critical injuries at Kozia Pass in Tatra mountains

Fatal accident at Zawrat

A series of mountaineering accidents in the Polish High Tatras resulted in a second fatality within days after a young woman fell from Zawrat Pass on Tuesday, 6 October 2026. The tourist was ascending towards the pass without basic winter gear, slipping on hard-packed snow and sliding down the Zawratowy Couloir toward the Zmarzly Staw tarn. The Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue (TOPR) received the distress call as their rescue helicopter was returning to Zakopane from an evacuation at Szpiglasowa Pass. Rescuers deployed directly into the couloir and initiated advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation upon finding the victim in sudden cardiac arrest. Paramedics continued resuscitation efforts during the helicopter flight to the hospital in Zakopane, but the woman died from extensive multi-organ trauma.

Warnings ignored on the trail

A fellow hiker, identified as Michal, recorded the sequence of events on a helmet camera while descending the iced route while assisting another hiker. He met the woman ascending the slope in Salomon sports shoes without a helmet, ice axe, crampons, or microspikes. Michal warned her about a fatal accident that had occurred at the exact spot days earlier and twice offered to lend her a spare pair of microspikes from his backpack, offering to escort her down. The tourist refused the offer and proceeded up the couloir, falling several hundred meters down the slope minutes later. Michal alerted emergency services and scrambled down the snow gully to pinpoint her location for the arriving flight crew.

Kozia Przelecz fall and previous incidents

The emergency at Zawrat forms part of a sequence of severe mountain incidents across the Tatras. On Wednesday, 7 October 2026, at around 11:00 AM, another female tourist fell from height near Kozia Pass, suffering severe injuries before being airlifted to the hospital in Zakopane in critical condition. Another rescue report arrived from the Zawrat area immediately following that mission. The recent surge began over the previous weekend, when TOPR conducted more than 20 rescue operations. On Saturday, 3 October 2026, a male tourist died after falling from Zawrat, while two climbers survived a fall over a rock step in Kulczynski Couloir after tying themselves together with an inadequate cord. On Monday, 5 October 2026, TOPR evacuated stranded tourists from Kozia Pass who were immobilized by panic while wearing urban microspikes.

Deceptive conditions in the High Tatras

TOPR rescuers and Tatra National Park officials noted that the accidents stem from a sharp contrast between valley temperatures and alpine terrain. Pleasant autumn conditions at lower elevations give visitors a false sense of security before they encounter hard firn and glazed ice above the timberline. Rescuer Tomasz Wojciechowski pointed out that improper footwear and reliance on light traction devices contribute directly to falls on steep terrain.

The mechanism of all these incidents over recent days is almost identical. Tourists set out on these high-altitude, difficult trails without proper preparation, experience, and equipment. Most of these incidents involve tourists who trusted microspikes. However, microspikes are not equipment for this type of expedition.

TOPR emphasized that thin, fresh snow layers over brittle ice create treacherous conditions where full mountaineering crampons, ice axes, helmets, and winter movement skills are strictly necessary.