Thanks to Bergschlawiner of Seattle Mountain Rescue for submitting this story.
A group of 12 Czech alpinists had to be rescued Sunday night while
attempting to climb the 2,515-meter summit of the Grosser Priel. A 30-year
old lady and her 32-year old partner took off Saturday morning to climb the
peak. They were totally unequipped for this climb and were wearing tennis
shoes and had no gloves. Somewhere in the middle of the “Bert-Rinesch”
climbing wall they joined a group of 10 other alpinists who were also Czechs
and who were better equipped.
They made slow progress because of the hip-deep snow and fog and didn’t reach the summit until 8:00 pm. and while trying to descend the mountain they became disoriented and at 9:20 pm made an emergency call on their cell phone. By that time the host where the two Czechs were staying had already notified the police that they were overdue.
A search was started immediately with 13 members of the Bergrettung Hinterstoder mountain rescue and an alpine policeman. The rescuers had to fight their way through the deep snow and reached the freezing group around 3:10 am at the 2,400 meter elevation and led them to the Prielschutzhaus mountain hut. The 32-year old man who had no gloves had to be taken to the hospital for frostbitten fingers.
Read the story (in German) here.
Recent Comments