Does the avalanche beeper work?
Tourers can now check this at a check station on Wallberg.
Rottach-Egern -
Where more and more freeriders and ski tourers cavort, there are also more accidents with avalanches.
To prevent this to a certain extent, the Association of German Mountain Police and Ski Guides has now installed a check station for avalanche search devices (VS) on Wallberg in Rottach-Egern - it is the first ever in the Tegernsee valley.
As an officer at the border police station in Kreuth and a member of the Alpine Task Force in Rosenheim, Michael Gebhardt (44) gets the situation in winter up close: Since normal skiing on Wallberg has ceased, the area has been enjoying increasing popularity year after year with ski tourers and freeriders in particular.
"When it has freshly snowed, everything is often completely retracted by noon," says Gebhardt, who is also chairman of the German Police Mountain and Ski Guide Association.
The problem: many venture into the area without emergency equipment.
This is where the association, whose statutes expressly include accident prevention, now want to start.
The association has set up a so-called VS check station in the area of the Wallbergbahn mountain station and will put it into operation in time for the winter season.
Checkstation should also encourage people to buy
Tourers and freeriders can use the board to check their avalanche search devices ("beepers") to ensure that they are working properly.
And maybe, Gebhardt hopes, one or the other will also be encouraged by the check station to buy such a device in the first place.
"After all, not only can I be found more quickly in an avalanche, but I can also save others."
But why wasn't the check station installed at the valley station, where ski tourers could check their beeper before starting the ascent?
Gebhardt justifies this with the large rush that prevails on good skiing days in the area of the railway entry.
"Everyone just wants to go up there, nobody is interested in the blackboard," says the association chairman.
Emergency equipment should become standard
Adi Boemmel, chairman of the Rottach-Egern mountain rescue service, welcomes the establishment of the check station on Wallberg as a preventive measure.
But he also emphasizes: The VS device alone is no protection against avalanche death.
Emergency equipment with a shovel, probe and first aid kit should be standard for every freerider and ski tourer.
“We have to raise awareness for this,” says Boemmel.
He also appeals to all athletes to be aware of the risk at all times: “I don't have to drive into everywhere it looks nice.” It is always necessary to deal with the avalanche, snow and weather conditions before the tour.
Ski tours on the upswing
Both railway operators and mountain rescuers are convinced that the trend of ski touring and piste skiing will take off again this year.
"The local sports shops are already selling more touring equipment than skiing equipment," reports Gebhardt.
He is therefore expecting a large number of visitors on the known standard routes this Corona winter.
In recent winters, up to 400 people have been out and about on the Tegernsee local mountains such as the Hirschberg on beautiful ski touring days, says Gebhardt.
Education and accident prevention are all the more important.
