Lost in the snow, incorrectly equipped, incorrectly planned: tourists caused stress for the mountain rescuers in Salzburger Land. Resignation is spreading.
Hüttschlag – The summer holidays are actually over, but the Salzburg mountain rescuers hardly notice that the activity on the peaks of the Austrian mountains is slackening. In particular, the onset of winter last week is still causing difficult conditions on the mountain, which many mountain lovers do not take into account when planning their tours, although this has been pointed out several times and drastically.
Family from Upper Austria rescued at night in Pongau
During the night from Sunday to Monday, a family from Linz (Upper Austria) got lost on a hike up the Spielkogel (2144 meters) in the Grossarltal in the Salzburg Pongau. “They lost their bearings in the snowy alpine terrain because they wanted to take a supposed shortcut,” said the Hüttschlag mountain rescue service. Since they could not go any further, they made an emergency call at around 6 p.m. The connection was lost. A young person from the family climbed up a little to get back in touch with the operations center. This worked, and a rescue helicopter was then able to pick him up.
When the Hüttschlag mountain rescue team found the rest of the family in a ditch, it was too dark for a helicopter rescue. The mountain rescuers climbed up to the three completely exhausted people. “I tried to get a helicopter from a neighboring state to do a rescue by winch,” says Gerhard Kremser, the district manager of the mountain rescue team in Pongau. “But only a helicopter from Reutte in Tyrol was available later, so the mountain rescuers waited with the family for a few hours for this rescue by winch.” Finally, the crew of the night-flying helicopter from Reutte was able to rescue the family by winch and fly them out. The mountain rescuers descended on foot, and the operation was over at around 1 a.m.
Hopelessly overwhelmed climbing trio leaves mountain rescuers speechless
At the same time, in the Dachstein Mountains on the border between Upper Austria and Salzburg, three young men from Israel and Belgium got into trouble after they had climbed the Donnerkogel via ferrata to see the sunset on the mountain. “However, due to their exhaustion, equipment and lack of tour planning, they were no longer able to descend on their own,” reports the Annaberg mountain rescue service. At around 9.30 p.m., the trio called the emergency services. According to the rescuers’ report, they had already taken twice as long to climb and were hooked into the steel cable at the end of the via ferrata – completely soaked and exhausted.
Mountain rescuers from Annaberg climbed up to the tourists and brought warm clothing, tea and other equipment. “The three men were completely exhausted, suffering from hypothermia and could no longer climb down on their own, not even with a rope. They were only wearing light shoes and the snow was still waist-deep in places,” explains Werner Quehenberger, the district manager of the mountain rescue service in Tennengau.
“We wanted to bivouac with them on the mountain because we couldn’t carry out a nighttime rescue using a winch and no helicopter can land there at night.” Eventually the rescuers managed to get hold of the crew of a rescue helicopter from Styria that can fly at night. The crew hovered under the most difficult conditions and took the exhausted holidaymakers on board and flew them into the valley. “I’ll spare myself any appeal to common sense and tour planning,” said Quehenberger almost resignedly.
Couple from Bremen get lost in the snow at an altitude of 2050 meters
On Sunday afternoon, a holidaymaker from Hesse (69) fell about 15 meters into a ditch at an altitude of 2100 meters while traveling with her 18-year-old grandson. She was taken to hospital by helicopter. A 73-year-old from Bremen had gotten lost in a snowfield at an altitude of 2050 metres near Zell am See (Pinzgau) almost at the same time as his wife (63), and the two could not get any further. A police helicopter brought them safely to the valley. In the morning, a man from the district of Vöcklabruck (Upper Austria) had fallen on a fallen tree at the Bleckwand above Lake Wolfgang. Tree fell. The mountain rescue team carried him to the summit, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Recently, a climber fell on the Traunstein in the Salzkammergut and was seriously injured. In South Tyrol, a hiker fell 150 meters and died. In Tyrol, eight mountain hikers were stranded in the snow at the weekend and had to be rescued.
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