Once again, poor tour planning and overconfidence led to the operations on Thursday in the Tennengebirge, says operations manager Sepp Oppeneiger from the mountain rescue center inwerfen. The 26-year-old Canadian set off from Abtenau three days ago to cross the Tennengebirge and was only wearing sneakers. While descending from the Eiskogel towards the Tauernscharte, he came off the marked path and was no longer able to continue in the steep and impassable terrain in the “Heugasse” at around 1,750 meters above sea level. A mountaineer from Germany observed the emergency situation from a hiking trail shortly after 5 p.m. – the Canadian was in danger of falling – and made an emergency call. “The 26-year-old was lucky that the Libelle police helicopter happened to be nearby,” said Oppeneiger. The local district of Werden had also been alerted. The man was quickly rescued by the Dragonfly team using rope.
Like the Canadian, the two climbers underestimated their toursays Oppeneiger. The two Austrians, a 62-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, climbed via the Werdener Hütte to the start of the Hochthron-Südrampe climbing tour, which is rated at difficulty level 4. They started climbing at 10:30 a.m., but then had problems finding the route and were no longer able to continue on the 10th and penultimate pitch because they had reached their mental and physical limits.
The woman could no longer manage a climbing area. “She was very exhausted,” says Oppeneiger. “The two of them overestimated the climbing tour and were overwhelmed. If you notice that your rope partner is no longer making good progress after four pitches and the climbing has already taken two hours, you should turn back on such a long tour.”
Helicopter rescues are of course not possible during the night
Oppeneiger also points out that at this time of year it gets dark at 6 p.m. Luckily the weather – it was dry, calm and the moon was shining – allowed a helicopter rescue. The two climbers made an emergency call after dark. At 10 p.m., the two uninjured people were rescued by the ARA air rescue helicopter RK2 from Reutte in Tyrol. The St. Johann im Pongau alpine police were also on duty.
Already on Tuesday, an 18-year-old German had to be rescued in the darkness in the Tennengebirge. He got lost on the descent from the Edelweißhütte and could no longer continue in the crash area. Like the people in mountain distress on Thursday, he was also rescued by the helicopter. Oppeneiger points out that since it was already dark and the terrestrial rescue would have been very demanding, the mountain rescue service would probably not have been able to carry out the rescue until daylight the next day.
There are no helicopters for winch rescue in the state of Salzburg
“We have now had a lot of night rescues within a very short space of time,” says the district manager in Pongau, Gerhard Kremser. “In the federal state of Salzburg, however, there is no helicopter with a winch available for dew rescue; we always have to request helicopters from other countries for this. It is not a given that we will even get such a helicopter. Of course, you shouldn’t rely on the fact that rope rescue with a helicopter is possible during the night. In addition, the costs for those affected are very high, as there are also long flight times. “
Photos: RK2 air rescue ARA, Mountain rescue throwing
