Appeals without effect

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Snow on the mountain, sneakers on your feet: Sunday operation in Annaberg

(Bild: Bergrettung Salzburg)

"We can't reach them anyway": Salzburg's mountain rescuers are in despair because of many unteachable hikers. On Sunday alone, there were four missions due to holidaymakers who underestimated the current conditions. Young people even wanted to conquer a via ferrata in sneakers.

And once again, our rescuers have to risk their lives because naive holidaymakers don't care about equipment and planning. Three sneaker climbers (18 and 19) from Belgium and Israel were rescued from the Donnerkogel in Annaberg on Monday night: they were neither well equipped nor properly prepared. The trio actually wanted to see the sunset from the mountain - but the athletes overestimated themselves. It took them "twice as long" to make the ascent, according to the Salzburg Mountain Rescue report.

The young people underestimated the conditions at alpine altitude.

(Bild: Bergrettung Salzburg)

Soaked and tired, they got stuck at the end of the via ferrata and alerted Annaberg Mountain Rescue at around 9.30 pm. "The three men were completely exhausted, hypothermic and could no longer descend on their own, not even on the rope. They were only wearing light shoes and the snow was still waist-high in places," explained Werner Quehenberger, district manager in Tennengau. 14 mountain rescuers and alpine police climbed up to the trio, bringing clothing, tea and equipment. It was initially unclear whether the helicopter would be able to ascend in the dark - but in the end, the C14 rescue helicopter crew from Nöblarn in Styria succeeded. Thanks to the helicopter, the young people made it back down to the valley late in the evening.

I'll spare myself any appeal to common sense. Obviously we don't reach those who could learn this way. Others know what it means to do this climb.

Werner Quehenberger, Leiter der Bergrettung im Tennengau, über den Einsatz in Annaberg

Four helicopter missions in just one Sunday
The naivety of these mountaineers almost makes the volunteer mountain rescuers resign themselves: "You can't reach these people," says Quehenberger. Just the day before, mountain rescuers in Hüttschlag (St. Johann im Pongau district) had to rescue a family who had become trapped: The four people from Linz were hiking to the Spielkogel at 2144 meters. They lost their bearings due to all the snow, as they also wanted to take a shortcut. The emergency call was received at 6 p.m. - but the connection was lost.

Rescue helicopter on a mission

(Bild: Bergrettung Salzburg)

One family member, a teenager, was located and rescued by the police helicopter. The other three had to wait for several hours as no other helicopter was available. A helicopter from Reutte in Tyrol was only able to rescue the hikers with a rope at around 1 am.

One of the reasons: on Sunday there were two more missions involving helicopters in the Innergebirg. A German woman (69) fell 15 meters into a ditch while hiking with her grandson (18) in the Hochkönig region and injured herself. She was rescued by a rescue helicopter and flown to hospital, as was another German hiker (63) who was unable to continue with her husband (73) on the Hundstein at an altitude of 2050 meters - due to snowfields.