Years of training

Mountain rescue team welcomes new female recruits

Newly qualified mountain rescuer Magdalena Steininger with her course colleagues

(Bild: ÖBRD, Stritzl)

It's a rocky road to becoming a mountain rescuer - and yet dozens of young people in Styria undertake the tough two-year training course every year. Encouragingly, more and more women are showing interest.

Magdalena Steininger from Mürzzuschlag reports on the two-year training course that she completed alongside her studies in Graz. First things first: it paid off, the 22-year-old has been a fully trained mountain rescuer since the weekend. She mastered all the tasks on the Hallstatt glacier and passed her final exam.

Trial year, summer and winter courses, final exam
In total, the candidates have to complete three longer units - one in summer and one in winter, as well as a final examination course lasting a week. The biggest challenges for Steininger were rope techniques and mountain methods; these modules are also associated with their own examinations.

Steininger and her Mürztal training colleagues with head of operations Christoph Stritzl, who acted as trainer during the examination course.

(Bild: ÖBRD, Stritzl)

There is also an exam at the beginning - and a trial year is required before this. "That was important, because you can't fully assess what to expect," says the 22-year-old. She noticed that some of her colleagues had imagined the training a little differently, but she herself was well prepared.

Prospective trainees must already be mountain professionals
This is also due to her family background: her father Andreas, deputy head of operations in the Bruck-Mürzzuschlag district, took her into the mountains at an early age. He emphasizes that the training is no walk in the park and that you definitely need to be experienced in mountaineering. Applicants also need to be confident on skis so that they can concentrate on the essentials in the "mountain rescue school": rescue and recovery.

As a rule, people who already have a lot of experience on the mountain also sign up, which is why the drop-out rate is very low. 40 to 50 Styrians start the demanding training course every year, last year there were even around 60, and only one or two per year drop out. With this increase in well-trained volunteers, the tasks of the mountain rescue service can be mastered and there are no problems with recruiting new staff.

Exercises on the green meadow...

(Bild: ÖBRD, Stritzl)

... and in the eternal ice

(Bild: ÖBRD, Stritzl)

(Bild: ÖBRD, Stritzl)

Already ten percent women
The increasing number of women is encouraging. Until recently, they still led a shadowy existence and were sometimes confronted with prejudice, but the proportion is now around ten percent nationwide. "It's increasing massively and we're very much behind it," says Andreas Steininger. Female mountain rescuers greatly enrich the missions, for example when treating female casualties. The persistent cliché that women are physically less suited to the tough job has long been disproved: "A woman always has the strength you need for mountain rescue," says Steininger.

Daughter Magdalena herself was surprised at the number of female participants in her year - almost half of some courses were attended by women. "That's a sign that something is changing," says the 22-year-old.