The roast chicken is usually not an egg creating machine though.
They are fairly young male chickens, that have been raised just past their maximum growth rates.
I guess that wouldn’t have been that much different in medieval times. The difference nowadays is, that we have specialized breeds for egg-laying or meat production vice versa and the respective ‘wrong’ sex of each will just be ‘discarded’ right after hatching.
The article states, that they passed a place called Frühstücksplatz, that literally translates to “breakfast point” at 13:30.
To me, that alone would be a red flag. But then again, it was stated, that going for a night climb, was the intent of the trip. And of course a night climb to the Grossglockner in the midst of winter is a reckless ordeal in the first place. That should have been obvious for both of them.
It’s an interesting question who is responsible over another and there are some details in this story, that really make you wonder what was going on there. But not nearly enough detail to judge any of it.