Hours of action

Ski tourers missing – search operation on the Großvenediger

They searched for the trio on the Großvenediger. The operation lasted more than 12 hours.

(Bild: Alpinpolizei Tirol)

From Friday to Saturday, three young German alpinists aged 24 and 25 had to spend the night in a snow cave at an altitude of over 3,000 meters. The Germans had got into difficulties on a ski tour to the Großvenediger in Tyrol.

The Germans - two men and one woman - had set off in the morning from the Kürsinger Hütte in Salzburg to the Großvenediger (3657 m) in East Tyrol. When they were still not back at 7 p.m. that evening, the hut owner raised the alarm.

Lost their bearings in the fog
A major search operation began, in which the mountain rescue teams from Neukirchen (Salzburg), Prägraten in East Tyrol and two East Tyrolean Alpine police officers took part and which was to last all night. As it turned out, the Germans had lost their bearings in the fog on the descent from the summit to the Kürsinger Hütte and were inadvertently heading towards the Neue Prager Hütte. Two other alpinists alerted them to the mistake, the Alpine Police told the "Krone".

They had good equipment with them and survived the night well.

Die Alpinpolizei

Night in the emergency bivouac
To get to the Kürsinger Hütte, they would have had to climb up again. However, it was too late for that, and darkness was falling. So the Germans decided to set up an emergency bivouac in a snow cave on the East Tyrolean side of the Großvenediger at over 3,000 meters. "They had good equipment with them and survived the night well," said the Alpine Police.

At first, the emergency services did not know exactly where they were, as the alpinists had no cell phone reception.

Cell phone reception at last
On Saturday morning, visibility improved, allowing the trio to reach a hill from where it was possible to make an emergency call. This enabled the emergency services to reach the Germans - they found them exhausted but uninjured just below the Mullwitzaderl (3244 m) at the upper entrance to the Rainerkees. The mountain rescuers - in the meantime, those from Matrei were also on duty - subsequently brought the two men and the woman safely to the Johannishütte (2116 m) by land in the early morning, as the helicopter could not get far enough up due to the weather conditions.

From the Johannishütte, the Martin 4 emergency helicopter then flew them down into the valley to Prägraten. The mountain rescuers and alpine police officers were in action for more than 12 hours in the most difficult conditions - darkness, fog and fresh snow.