Swiss mountaineer Erhard Loretan, one of the few climbers to have summited all 14 of the world's peaks above 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), died in a climbing accident on Thursday, his 52nd birthday. The Associated Press reported that Loretan was leading a Swiss client up the summit ridge of the Gruenhorn, in the Bernese Alps, when the pair fell for unknown reasons at a height of 3,800 meters (12,500 feet) up the 4,043 meter (13,264-foot) peak. Police from the Swiss canton of Valais said that Loretan died at the scene, while his 38-year-old client was flown to a hospital in serious condition. But his career was blighted by a family tragedy just before Christmas 2001, when he killed his own infant son by shaking him to death to stop him crying. Manslaughter conviction 
 
 Loretan, originally from the canton of Fribourg, began climbing at the age of 11. He ascended his first 8,000-meter peak, Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, in 1982. It took him 13 years to climb the other 13, summiting the Himalayan peak of Kangchenjunga in 1995. His 1986 ascent of Mount Everest, without bottled oxygen, by night and in just 40 hours, stunned the mountaineering world. For the manslaughter of his son of seven months, Loretan was convicted and given a suspended sentence of four months in 2003. The case's notoriety led to new research showing many parents were unaware that infants can die from being shaken for only a few seconds, because of weak neck muscles, the Associated Press news agency recalls.
– One of the world's top mountain climbers fell to this death today, reports the BBC. Switzerland's Erhard Loretan—one of a relative handful of climbers to have scaled all 14 world peaks above 8,000 meters (26,247 feet)—fell after a climbing accident in the Swiss Alps. Loretan was known for another incident that marred his acclaim: He pleaded guilty to negligent manslaughter in 2001 after shaking his 7-month-old son to stop his crying. The death led to research highlighting the dangers of shaken baby syndrome, notes the Los Angeles Times.