Death at Garmisch

High above the winter resort of Garmisch Partenkirchen, in the lee of Germany's towering Zugspitze, champion bobsledders of eight nations were in gleeful spirits last week. After two days of unseasonably mild weather, the icy 1936 Olympic bobsled course had frozen hard and fast over its tortuous, 1,800-yard length. Switzerland's Felix Endrich, clumping around the take-off point, had particular reason to be happy: he had won the world championship two-man bobsled title earlier in the week, and his bride of less than a month was sitting in the stands rooting for him to repeat in the four-man event. Happily hailing U.S. Bobsledder Lloyd Johnson, Endrich slapped him on the back and grinned: "Take it easy today."

Minutes later, the four-man Swiss sled, a red-nosed quarter-ton of steel, wire and canvas, started its practice run. Brakeman Fritz Stoeckli gave a final shove, then hopped on behind his white-sweatered crew: Driver Endrich, Crewmen Aby Gartmann and Rene Heiland. Runners rattling on the icy course, the sled hit a 50 m.p.h. clip as Endrich steered through the tricky "labyrinth"--a series of 16 intricate curves. Pounding into the Bavarian Curve, a 180DEG turn with a 15-foot sheer wall of ice where Sweden's Rudolph Odenrich was killed two years ago, Endrich steered the sled toward the rim for maximum speed.

Up the sled went, runners chattering at the whistling 60 m.p.h. clip. Gathered at the turn, 500-odd spectators -- Mrs. Endrich among them--watched breathlessly for the precise change in course that would send the bobsled whipping down the sheer far side of the turn. The change was never made. The sled shot up and over the rim of the curve, and crashed heavily into a clump of firs.

Brakeman Stoeckli, thrown clear in midair, landed atop a parked U.S. jeep and escaped with minor injuries. Crewman Heiland suffered a broken leg and possible spinal injuries; Crewman Gartmann broke his right shoulder. Driver Endrich, a blond, 32-year-old Zurich salesman, his neck broken, was dead on .arrival at Garmisch hospital.

Heads bared, the other bobsledders gathered for two minutes of silent tribute, then agreed that the meet should go on the next day. The winner: the U.S. No. 2 team, driven by Lloyd Johnson, 28, who edged out Germany's two-time World Champion Andreas Ostler.

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