Dramatic Mission – With a Baby in Alpine Distress: “Afraid for Our Lives”

The group consisted of a couple – the man carrying the baby in a backpack – a man and a woman and three dogs. They are all from Germany. When attempting to descend from the summit via the north face at 4:00 PM, snow to the waist meant the group had to return to the summit to take another route down to the valley floor. “Snow is often underestimated, especially on the shady sides of the mountains,” explains Head of Operations Koboltschnig.

Rope recovery impossible due to wind
In the vicinity of a climbing passage, people were unable to continue and made an emergency call. A police helicopter went out to rescue the climbers from their predicament, but was unable to land in the summit area due to gale-force winds. “Saving the rope would simply have been impossible because of the wind,” reports Koboltschnig. Members of the mountain rescue and Alpine police therefore climbed to the top.

Baby warmed up under the jacket
The group communicated over the phone: “The poor reception made communication a bit difficult,” says Koboltschnig. The Germans were afraid not only for their own life, but above all for the health of the baby. “We instructed by phone to push the baby out of the backpack under the jacket and onto your own body to avoid hypothermia,” Koboltschnig continued.

The group then reached a landing site under their own power and from there were flown unharmed by helicopter to the valley floor – all unharmed but slightly hypothermic. Mountain rescue services rescued the three dogs and returned them to the starting point. “Luckily, this mission had a happy ending – everyone was safe before nightfall!”