Emergency on the mountain

Poorly equipped hikers rescued

Police helicopter "Libelle"

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

Two young women from the Innviertel region may have massively underestimated the weather conditions during a tour in the Höllengebirge mountains. Wind and snowfall made it difficult for them to find their way. Without crampons and suitably warm clothing and with their last battery reserves, they made an emergency call. A group of mountain rescuers managed to find the two women and guide them safely down into the valley. 

A 23-year-old woman from Braunau and a 24-year-old woman from Überackern set off on a hike into the Höllengebirge mountains at around 9.15 am on Wednesday with light equipment. They started at the Taferlklause and hiked to the Hinterer Langbathsee.

They were familiar with the tour
There they decided to climb up to the Brunnkogel via the exposed Schafluckensteig trail and then descend back down to the Taferlklause via the 1692-metre-high Hochleckenkogel. The two hikers already knew the tour from the summer.

Symbolic image

(Bild: Bergrettung Ehrwald)

Even below the Brunnkogel, the women encountered bad weather on the ascent. The snowfall and wind were getting heavier and heavier and there was no way to see the path. The orientation using a cell phone app also drained the batteries of their cell phones. With the last of their battery reserves, they made an emergency call at 2.25 pm.

Poor cell phone reception
Officers from the Gmunden Alpine Police tried to make contact by phone, but this proved difficult due to poor reception. However, they managed to find out their exact GPS location before the two cell phones failed. The Traunkirchen mountain rescue station and the "Libelle OÖ" police helicopter were alerted at the same time.

Due to the bad weather, a direct rescue by helicopter was not possible. It was therefore decided that four mountain rescuers and one female mountain rescuer would be flown from the helicopter to the fog line on a 20-meter rope.

Supplied with crampons and clothing
From this drop-off point, the mountain rescuers had to climb up for about another hour and search for the two young women in the dense fog and snowstorm. The Innviertler women were equipped with appropriate clothing and crampons and were then escorted down into the valley unharmed. At around 6.30 p.m. they were handed over to their worried parents safe and sound.