So the son crashed down the glacier – VG

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– Father saw that the son disappeared over the edge and disappeared. He tried to go after, but it was too steep. Dad then went up to the cabin at the top of Galdhøpiggen again and was notified. He probably envisioned the worst and was very relieved when he was told that the boy was alive. They have had luck in bad luck, says task leader Roger Hagen at the Inland Police District.

Saturday night he received the American man when he arrived at Juvasshytta. He was led safely down from Galdhøpiggen and over Styggebreen by two experienced mountain guides. Dad sat straight in the car of the task leader to be driven down to the fifteen-year-old at the hospital down in Otta.

– He’s safe down now. We sit in the car and calm down a bit, said operations manager Haugen to VG at 9.30 pm on Sunday night.

Tour of Norway

Father and son are American tourists on holiday in beautiful Norway. According to the task leader, the two have been to Iceland and Western Norway before traveling to Jotunheimen. On Sunday, they walked Galdhøpiggen (2469 masl) from Spiterstulen. At 17 o’clock they were on their way down from Norway’s highest mountain.

The path they followed runs along the top of Piggbreen. A little further down is Styggebreen, which many tourists have been taken over in ropes on their way from Juvasshytta to Galdhøpiggen.

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As the two move along the steep slope, the fifteen-year-old suddenly loses his footing and slides at great speed down towards Styggebreen. What remains is a terrified father who fears the worst.

Shortly before 5 pm, the police in the Inland are notified from the serviced cabin on Galdhøpiggen. Then the father went up to warn. A major rescue operation is launched:

– Father had lost contact with his son. We feared the glacier cracks in Styggebreen. He could also have slipped into a gap between rock and glacier. We started a larger apparatus, says police superintendent Haugen.

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Father and son had gone up along a route that does not cross glaciers. Therefore, they did not walk with ice spikes on their legs. When the fifteen-year-old slipped off the edge, he slid at great speed down towards a glacier, which is clearly warned against on Juvasshyta’s website:

“It is life-threatening to cross the glacier alone without rope, equipment and expertise. There is snow that covers the cracks so that one does not see them, and we can experience breakthroughs. Brean is from ancient times called the Ugly Glacier, not because it is ugly. Ugly means dangerous in the vernacular. “

Came to Juvasshytta

At 16.50 the big rescue operation is started:

– We alert the air ambulance and rescue helicopter and send out ground crews from the alpine rescue group. The flight weather is challenging, with poor visibility and some wind, says operations manager Øyvind Bakken in the Innlandet police district.

Dogs with handlers are called in and drone searches are being prepared. The 15-year-old can be anywhere.

– When we have the resources ready, we receive notification that the 15-year-old has recovered at Juvasshytta. This means that after falling down Piggbreen, he has recovered from Styggebreen. This is an area where you usually go with glacier guides. We are informed that he is slightly injured, Bakken says.

Task leader Roger Haugen says the American teenager has slipped a kilometer.

– He suddenly came walking here to Juvass. He has friction injuries after slipping so far and has been driven down to Otta for a medical check-up. When he came walking in here, he was worried about his father. We quickly got in touch with Dad on the phone. He had returned to the manned cabin on Galdhøpiggen. The father was quickly informed that the son was safe, says Haugen.

On Sunday evening, glacier guides brought the man down from Galdhøpiggen. He was taken across the Ugly Glacier and driven down to reunite with his son in Otta. Both spend the night at the Emergency Room in Otta before continuing on their Norwegian holiday.

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