A mountain tourist in the Salzkammergut (Austria) chose an unmarked route that his cell phone suggested. He had to be rescued.
Gmunden – The Traunstein near Gmunden in the Salzkammergut (Austria) is not a giant at first glance, with its 1691 meters. But the mountain drops almost vertically from the summit to the idyllic Traunsee lake for over 1200 meters. Several marked and secured climbing platforms and hiking trails with ropes and steps lead to the summit. However, a tourist (43) from Poland chose a route for the descent that was suggested to him by his cell phone, but which is not marked with signposts.
Alpine hiker from Poland almost runs into ruin in Austria because of app
The 43-year-old started on Saturday (September 7) at around 9 a.m. First he went up the moderately difficult Hans Herner via ferrata, in order to climb the Traunsee via ferrata with difficulty level D in the upper section. Then the man made a fatal mistake: “From the Traunstein plateau, after a rest, he decided to descend the unmarked, steep ‘Zierlersteig’, which he had found in a hiking app,” reports the Upper Austrian police.
This path is not secured and often difficult to find for people unfamiliar with the area. What had to happen happened: “At an altitude of about 1000 meters above sea level, he missed the path and continued to descend in impassable terrain,” it continues. He was unable to continue on a rock face at an altitude of about 650 meters, so he climbed back uphill.
“As he could no longer find his way and was exhausted, as well as because it was getting late, he contacted the Gmunden mountain rescue service by emergency call at around 6:50 p.m.,” the police report. As dusk began to fall, the man signaled to the rescuers with his flashlight so that they could quickly find his location. 13 mountain rescuers and an alpine police officer climbed up to the man.
13 mountain rescuers bring lost hiker to safety in the Salzkammergut
The team prepared a rescue using rope railings and abseiling in the steep, rocky terrain. “The darkness made things even more difficult.” Accompanied by the mountain rescue team, the vacationer was able to be brought back to the path at around 8:45 p.m. and back to the valley at around 9:45 p.m. “Apart from minor scratches, the man was uninjured,” it was finally reported.
Other mountain tourists have already paid with their lives when they followed abandoned trails from the internet. In August 2023, a vacationer fell to his death in Berchtesgaden National Park (Upper Bavaria) when he presumably followed an unmarked trail from an app. In May of this year, a hiker also fell and died nearby – a US student who was following an abandoned hunting trail marked on Google Maps.
Mountain rangers warn app operators whose maps show dangerous paths
A German family’s trip to the Wilder Kaiser in Tyrol ended well. They relied on information from the internet and grossly misjudged their tour. At the end of August, two hikers were picked up by helicopter from the Goldtropfensteig to the Hochstaufen near Berchtesgaden. This trail has not been maintained or marked for a long time, but it appears in a hiking app. The Bavarian mountain rescue service is desperately trying to dissuade mountain hikers from following the wrong paths shown by apps. In Berchtesgaden, a ranger scours the apps and warns the operators if abandoned paths are indicated.
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