A German family had bad luck when they went for a walk in the Vorarlberg Rätikon massif on Monday. After the 45-year-old father, who was traveling with his 13-year-old daughter and her 77-year-old grandfather and could not find his way back to the marked hiking trail despite the lack of special equipment, the group decided to climb to more than 2500 m in an emergency bivouac meter.
Monday around 8.30 am the trio left the Stuttgart area after a night in the Totalphütte towards Mannheimer Hütte. In the area of the Schesaplana saddle, the group left the marked trail for unknown reasons and – despite the lack of glacier equipment – went down the valley over the Brandner Glacier in the direction of the glacial lakes. Police said the descent over the ice was difficult and dangerous.
Arriving at the glacial lakes, they could not find any trail markers and tried to return to the hiking trail via the glacier, but were unable to do so due to a lack of equipment (such as crampons). Due to a lack of network reception, the trio was also unable to place an emergency call. So the hikers set up an emergency bivouac when it got dark.
When the group had still not arrived at the Mannheimer Hütte at 11 p.m., the landlord, who had already been informed of the loss by relatives, made an alpine emergency call. The Fire mountain rescue service climbed into the search area with three search teams on Tuesday morning around 1 a.m. and a rescue helicopter from the Swiss air rescue service “Rega” was also alerted.
This special helicopter equipped with a thermal imaging camera finally managed to locate the group around 3 a.m. An hour and a half later, around 4:30 a.m., mountain rescuers reached the unharmed but severely hypothermic hikers. After sunrise they were flown to Brand by the Austrian emergency doctor helicopter “Christophorus 8” and from there taken by ambulance to the state hospital in Bludenz.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
