"Very lucky"

Snowboarder falls 100 meters over rocky terrain

The Kaprun mountain rescue team rescued the 27-year-old Viennese.(Bild: Bergrettung Kaprun)

The accident happened in open terrain on the Kitzsteinhorn in Salzburg: two brothers from Vienna were snowboarding when the older of the two fell around 100 meters off the slopes over rocky terrain. According to the mountain rescue team, the man was very lucky to survive the fall. 

27 years and 25 years old: Two brothers apparently set off on a short freeride tour on Sunday afternoon. They left the pistes on the Kitzsteinhorn and wanted to make their tracks in open terrain.

"Lost their bearings"
"The freerider must have lost his bearings. He apparently wanted to ski downhill directly behind the Alpincenter behind an edge of the terrain, fell about 50 meters almost in free fall on the very steep slope at around 2100 meters above sea level, hit a snow-covered rock band and fell another 50 meters," as local station manager Tom Leitner describes.

The freerider remained lying in the snow. He suffered a shoulder dislocation and a laceration to his face.

Younger brother alerted the emergency services
His younger brother made an emergency call on his cell phone and thus set the rescue chain in motion. The accident victim was rescued by the Kaprun mountain rescue team, the Kitzsteinhornbahn piste rescue team, the Alpine Police and the crew of Alpin Heli 6 and received initial medical treatment.

"The freerider was very lucky," emphasizes the local station manager. "Such falls can also be fatal. The man was well equipped, he had an avalanche transceiver and a shovel and probe with him." After the fall, the Viennese man wrapped himself in his bivouac sack to protect himself from the cold until the rescue services arrived. The injured man was taken to the Tauernklinikum Zell am See.