Parents' mistake

With children on a via ferrata: family in great distress

The police helicopter had to be deployed several times on Saturday.

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer / Kronenzeitung)

In Halltal near Absam in Tyrol, a family of five from Germany had to be rescued from extreme distress on Saturday afternoon. It was not the only rescue from an alpine emergency that day in Tyrol. A 40-year-old woman was hit on the arm by a slab of rock.

The German family had climbed the via ferrata to Bettelwurf in Halltal at around 10 am. The youngest child in the family is twelve years old. The parents must have thought he and his siblings were capable of tackling the challenging tour - a misjudgement, as it turned out. 

Nothing worked after four hours
Four hours after starting the tour, the Germans apparently realized that they would not be able to reach their destination. The family made an emergency call at around 2 pm. Mountain rescuers and a police helicopter had to be deployed to rescue the family. The children and parents were rescued from the helicopter using a rope and brought down to the valley unharmed.

Non-stop operations for the local mountain rescuers.

(Bild: Gregor Franke)

Couple and climber also in mountain distress
Mountain rescuers also had to be called out near Tannheim in the Außerfern region on Saturday afternoon to rescue a German couple (both 33) from the Lachenspitze Nordwand via ferrata. The woman was obviously overwhelmed and was unable to continue. Her husband made the emergency call shortly before 4 pm.

The couple was rescued unharmed with the help of the police helicopter, as was the 39-year-old woman from Munich who panicked after the first passage on the "Guffert Westgrat" climbing tour in Steinberg am Rofan (Schwaz district) and was unable to continue.

Female hiker hit by Steinplatte
The emergency ambulance also had to arrive in Zillertal on Saturday to fly a female hiker (40) down to the valley and subsequently to Kufstein District Hospital. At the crossing from the Zillerkees, the German woman used her ice axe to build a belay station in the ice and secure her climbing partner (64).

When he was about ten meters ahead, he kicked a 40-centimetre slab of rock off the very brittle ground, which hit the 40-year-old on her left arm and seriously injured her.