Tourist dies after 90m fall at popular Instagram spot ‘Stairway to heaven’

A tourist has fallen to his death while scaling a ladder on a picturesque mountain, known as the “stairway to heaven”.

A British climber has plunged more than 90 metres to his death while scaling a ladder on a picturesque Austrian mountain.

The unnamed 42 year old fell off the end of the ladder in the Dachstein Mountains, an area popular with Instagrammers, The Sun reports.

Two helicopter crews rushed to the scene but the man was unable to be saved after the horrific fall.

The horror fall happened near Salzburg in Austria. Picture: Alamy

The ladder, run by Inter-sport, is referred to as Via-Ferrata – Italian for “iron way” – and many climbers refer to it as the “stairway to heaven”.

The Brit was reportedly scaling the ladder alone, and third-party negligence has been ruled out.

Rescuers retrieved his body from the gully beneath the ladder.

A spokesperson stressed the incident was an “accident”.

The iron path has more than 3500 posts tagged, and is popular with extreme thrill seekers.

In 2020, an extreme athlete was pictured balancing on the ladder with no harness.

The edges of cliffs have become popular photo spots across the world, but have also lead to tragic deaths, including in Australia.

In January 2020, British tourist Madalyn Davis died after she fell from a cliff in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The 21-year-old Instagram model had been at a party when she and seven friends decided to head to the cliffs at Diamond Bay Reserve in the early hours of the morning to take a photograph.

Less than six months earlier, a 27-year-old died after falling 30 metres from a cliff nearby at the Vaucluse reserve onto rocks below.

British tourist Madalyn Davis fell to her death from cliffs in Vaucluse, Sydney.

Melbourne woman Rosy Loomba fell to her death from the Boroka Lookout in Victoria.

In December 2020, Melbourne mum Rosy Loomba was taking a selfie at a popular lookout in Victoria when she slipped and fell to her death in front of her horrified family.

The 38-year-old fell from the Boroka Lookout in the Grampians National Park, which is famed on Instagram as the “perfect selfie” spot.

In 2022, another Instagram-famous tourist location in Australia claimed the life of a woman and an elderly couple on two seperate occasions.

The woman in her 20s died after being swept off rocks at the popular Pink Caves in Lake Macquarie, NSW in April.

An 80-year-old woman and her 76-year-old husband who were found drowned in July were hit by a freak wave while sightseeing at the same spot.

Not long after, the Pink Caves were permanently closed.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission