The change in the weather is causing many mountain tourists to stumble. Rescue teams have to be deployed across Austria.
Innsbruck – It’s hard to believe: The weather in the Alps changes from high summer to winter in a very short space of time. On Sunday (8 September) there was a lot of rain and a drop in temperature, and on Monday (9 September) snowflakes were already waving over the Alpine peaks.
Among others, a climber (36) and a companion (33) from Garmisch-Partenkirchen were surprised by the change in the weather on Sunday during a climbing tour on the 3065 meter high Grundschartner in the Zillertal (Tyrol). At around 6.15 p.m., the 36-year-old called a friend and told him that he and his climbing partner were on the last pitch. It had become very wet and cold. The friend should alert the mountain rescue service if he did not call again by 9 p.m.
Climber in Austria stopped answering the phone on a Tyrolean mountain – rescuers deployed on major operation
When the climber stopped responding and could no longer be reached by cell phone, the friend made an emergency call. The Mayrhofen mountain rescue service and the Alpine police launched a rescue mission. After hours of searching, the missing climbers were found unharmed at 12:50 a.m. on Monday at an altitude of 1,950 meters. They were taken to the Kainzenalm. The march led through flooded mountain streams.
A seven-person canyoning group from Bad Segeberg (Schleswig-Holstein) was surprised by the rising water level during a tour in the Schraubenwasserfall Gorge in Hintertux. They were born unharmed by rope rescue using a helicopter or emergency vehicles from the Zillertal Water Rescue Service. During a canyoning tour in the Tyrolean Außerfern region in July, one participant died in an accident.
Couple in summer clothes is surprised by a storm on a mountain – and triggers a rescue operation
In the Totes Gebirge (Upper Austria), a Czech couple, aged 25 and 26, had to be rescued by mountain rescue. They had been surprised by bad weather on the 2388-meter-high summit. They climbed from the Wurzeralm via the Rote Wand and the Toten Mann and wanted to return via the challenging southeast ridge.
The couple got caught in the darkness during the ascent. They were only wearing shorts and leggings and sneakers. They called the Vorderstoder mountain rescue service, who had them brought to the valley by helicopter despite the strong wind. “The ascent was already a challenging route, and they were surprised by the wind and rain,” Niklas Rebhandl from the Vorderstoder mountain rescue service told IPPEN.MEDIAThe descent would have been via a challenging alpine path secured by a steel cable.
First snowflakes cover peaks and Alpine passes
On Monday, snow fell in the high altitudes of the Alps. The Stilfser Joch (2757 metres) in South Tyrol/Lombardy was covered in white in the morning. The Zugspitze was also covered in sugar in the morning.
On Germany’s highest mountain on the border with Tyrol, it is expected to continue snowing for another eight days, with temperatures reaching mi
nus nine degrees at night and minus eight degrees during the day. The Swiss weather service Swiss-MRF is expecting up to 1.65 meters of fresh snow in the central part of the country by Friday. In Austria, heavy snowfall is expected, particularly in the Hohe Tauern region.
The last week of the holidays saw many operations in the Austrian Alps, with at least seven deaths. In the Bavarian Alps, 35 mountain deaths had already been recorded by the end of August.
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