In recent days, the Ehrwald mountain rescue team and the RK-2 emergency helicopter rescued several overwhelmed and ill-equipped alpinists from the Zugspitze and the Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze in Tyrol’s Ausserfern region.
“That can’t be true,” thought Regina Poberschnigg, local manager of the Ehrwald mountain rescue service, as she looked out the window around 10 p.m. Monday. Just below the top of the Sonnenspitze (2417 m), light could be seen. A climbing couple got stuck there. “I would hardly have dared to send a mountain rescuer up, because there is still a lot of snow on the steep side and the darkness would have made everything more difficult,” says Poberschnigg.
RK-2 alerted in Reutte
Instead, she alerted the emergency medical helicopter RK-2 in Reutte. “We were there in ten minutes,” says winch operator Benni Zobl. A few minutes later the escape rescuer was with the Germans (32 and 29), and the slightly hypothermic were pulled into the helicopter with the winch. “We flew them to the parking lot of the Almbahn and then handed them over to the mountain rescue team.”
It took the duo seven (!) hours to climb the southern ridge to the top – just over three is common. Then they wanted to descend to the north, where there is still a lot of snow. “After all, they were stuck in the snow in shorts,” Poberschnigg shook his head in disbelief.
Panic in the snowfield
She shook her head the day before. Two Romanians, who didn’t even have a jacket with them, panicked in a snow field on their way to the Zugspitze in the afternoon. The mountain rescuers descended 100 meters from support two of the Tiroler Zugspitzbahn to them, then brought them to support and over them into the gondola. In it, the unharmed rode into the valley.
To top it all off, two poorly equipped Germans followed a wrong track in the snow on the stopper tractor route to the Zugspitze on Tuesday. “The two of our team descended at an altitude of about 2,700 meters and trekked to the mountain station,” says Poberschnigg. Besides, they weren’t insured.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
