Was "melted down"

Woman was trapped in a crevasse for 45 minutes

The woman was trapped in the crevasse for 45 minutes.

(Bild: Michael Gruber/Alpinpolizei, Krone KREATIV)

It was a matter of life or death. Dramatic minutes on the Hallstatt glacier. A woman (54) from Burgenland slipped on the icy ground and fell into a four-meter-deep crevasse, unable to move. Fortunately, the mountain rescuers were able to rescue her in time.

"The woman was very lucky that the weather was so good and that we were on site so quickly," says head of operations Michael Gruber to "Krone". Because the situation was life-threatening. 

Out and about with friends
The 54-year-old from Burgenland went on a mountain hike on the Hohe Dachstein on Saturday with her 53-year-old friend from Lower Austria. On the descent, they decided to take the Randkluft ascent. This leads over very steep, glaciated and partly icy terrain with open crevasses.

Slipped 25 meters
The man from Lower Austria jumped over an open crevasse in the uppermost section. During the maneuver, his companion slipped just next to the crevasse, slid about 25 meters across the glacier and then fell into a very narrow crevasse about four meters deep.

The mountain rescuers and rescue helis were quickly on the scene.

(Bild: Bergrettung Hallstatt)

Rescuers during an exercise nearby
There she was trapped between the ice walls, completely unable to move. A witness observed the accident and made an emergency call at around 2.25 pm. Her luck: mountain rescuers from Hallstatt, including an alpine policeman, had just returned from a climbing and training tour to the mountain station of the Hunerkogel cable car when they heard about the accident. They were taken to the scene of the accident in a skidoo.

Woman threatened to suffocate
The rescuers roped up to the woman bit by bit and rescued her. "There were two problems. The woman was melted down, so to speak, because the body heat melts the ice and then freezes again. In addition, the pressure on her chest was increasing and the woman was in danger of suffocating," says alpine police officer and mountain rescuer Michael Gruber, describing the dramatic minutes.

The woman, who was wearing shorts and a short bodysuit and was conscious and responsive, had to hold out for 45 minutes before she could be pulled out of the crevasse. She was flown to Schladming hospital.

Meanwhile, Michael Gruber has a warning for mountaineers: "At the moment, you need good and appropriate equipment on the glacier, such as ice axes and crampons. "