Vacationing family in distress

Asphalt road too “boring”, then nightmare ensued

With the three-year-old child on their backs, they headed downhill. In the difficult and steep terrain, the helpers had to resort to abseiling.(Bild: ZOOM Tirol)

A vacation with an adventure factor? Many people are looking for it - but in this case it was involuntary and came about due to misjudgements. A German family of five got onto dangerous paths in the Tyrolean Zillertal, and the only thing that helped was an emergency call. The mountain rescue team arrived.

One after the other: After the cable car ascent, the family of five (children aged 3, 10 and 12) wanted to descend from the Wiesenalm to Zell am Ziller on Monday.

Initially, the Germans used a marked hiking trail. The last section before reaching the bottom of the valley is on an asphalt road. The holidaymakers found this too "boring", as they later had to admit contritely.

Stumbled across the old hunter's trail on their cell phone
The father then took his cell phone out of his pocket and looked for an alternative. He came across an old hunter's trail that apparently also led into the valley. The problem: a devastating storm caused havoc in the area in July last year. "The clean-up work is still ongoing, some of the wood is still lying all over the place, even above the trail," says Gerhard Daum from the Zell am Ziller mountain rescue service.

The family had reacted correctly in the emergency, an online map had led them to the inaccessible path.

Gerhard Daum, Bergrettung Zell am Ziller

He and seven fellow rescuers were called out when the family finally got stuck in the increasingly rocky terrain and made an emergency call. The rescuers climbed up to the family and then had to abseil down in sections to rescue them safely.

Descent mastered, family grateful
"We chose the direct route down, which was the easiest," explains Daum. Around 300 meters further on and an hour and a half later, the family reached the valley unharmed. Including the three-year-old child, who witnessed the action in the back stretcher. "In the end, they managed the descent well and were grateful," says Daum.

His tip: be careful with online maps, as they often show older routes that are no longer accessible.