{"id":482701,"date":"2026-10-31T22:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T22:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/482701\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T22:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T22:06:37","slug":"austin-alpinist-dies-climbing-matterhorn-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/482701\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin alpinist dies climbing Matterhorn"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 An Austin man died climbing the Matterhorn, the iconic peak that stands 14,962 feet tall in the Pennine Alps on the Swiss-Italian border.<\/p>\n

20-year-old Kieran Liner “had this incredible, beautiful zest for life, and he wanted to live life fully,” said his sister, Precenia Newman.<\/p>\n

Newman said Kieran picked up skateboarding as a young child in Pensacola, Florida. When he moved to Austin, he began indoor bouldering at places like Austin Bouldering Project before moving to outdoor climbing.<\/p>\n

\"20-year-old<\/p>\n

20-year-old Kieran Liner died while climbing the Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border (Photo: Precenia Newman)<\/p>\n

“He could not be tamed. He could be stopped. If he had something in mind, he was gonna do it, and he was going to do it 150%,” said Newman.<\/p>\n

Newman said Kieran climbed several mountains before attempting the Matterhorn.<\/p>\n

“He would always correct people and say, ‘I’m not a mountaineer, I’m an alpinist.'” laughed Newman.<\/p>\n

ALSO | Stolen Texas trooper’s gun used in shooting, kidnapping at The Domain, affidavit says<\/a><\/p>\n

Kieran documented his trip through the Alps with his friend, Eli, on social media.<\/p>\n

\"20-year-old<\/p>\n

20-year-old Kieran Liner (right) died while climbing the Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border (Photo: Precenia Newman)<\/p>\n

The day before the two began the ascent up the Matterhorn, Kieran called his mom.<\/p>\n

“He reached out to our mom and told her, ‘Hey mom, nothing’s going to happen. But if something were to happen, I’d die doing what I love, and I want you to know that.'” <\/p>\n

Kieran was supposed to return home today, but the family instead received a phone call from the U.S. consulate in Switzerland. Kieran died on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

“A rockfall happened, is what Eli said,” recounted Newman. “And after that Eli was a little bit above Kieran and he kind of lost sight of Kieran, and he called out for him. He didn’t get a response from him.”<\/p>\n

\"20-year-old<\/p>\n

20-year-old Kieran Liner died while climbing the Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border (Photo: Precenia Newman)<\/p>\n

Swiss Valais Cantonal Police<\/a> say the accident happened approximately 3,500 meters up the mountain, nearly 11,500 feet. They are still working to positively identify the body.<\/p>\n

Newman remembers her brother fondly.<\/p>\n

“He went against the grain, so to speak, in a lot of ways,” she said. “Most people were like, ‘Wow, like, you know, he’s different,’ and it was charming, honestly. He was authentically him.”<\/p>\n

The family is now working with authorities to bring Kieran back to the States. A GoFundMe page has been created to help cover funeral costs and expenses related to bringing Kieran back to the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 An Austin man died climbing the Matterhorn, the iconic peak that stands 14,962 feet tall…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-482701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}