Crash at the Alpspitze: Touring skier slides 200 meters into the depths - mountain rescue service with urgent warning

He was well equipped, that was probably his luck: Because a ski tourer from the Traunstein area sustained severe head injuries when he fell on the Alpspitze.

The mountain rescue service Garmisch-Partenkirchen was in constant use on Sunday.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

- With a guardian angel and very good equipment, a ski tourer from the Traunstein area was out and about in the Alpspitze area near Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday.

Otherwise the trip to the Wetterstein Mountains with a special might have come to an even worse end.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen: Tourers crashes on the Alpspitze - and is seriously injured

The experienced ski mountaineer and good skier initially fell on the descent from the Alpspitze into the Oberkar, slid around 200 meters on the snow and had to be flown to the accident clinic in Murnau with serious head injuries.

Not the only assignment for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue service on a stressful weekend for the mountain rescuers.

Thomas Abold, the head of the mountain rescue service, speaks of very unfortunate circumstances in this case.

“They were really very accomplished tourers, well equipped and also very good skiers,” he clarifies.

And yet the misfortune happened.

The two alpinists were about to descend over the eastern flank of the Alpspitze.

They stopped in the area of ​​the bottleneck, a transition to rocky terrain above the Oberkars, which is very difficult to traverse due to the snow conditions.

“Actually everything is right,” notes Abold.

After a crash at Alspitze: Mountain Rescue Operations Manager speaks of "very unfortunate circumstances"

The two tourers unbuckled their skis and wanted to put on their crampons.

But one of them slipped.

He lost his footing, fell over a ledge and landed in the snow, where he slipped further into the Oberkar.

"His luck, if you can say that in the case of severe head injuries, was his good equipment," emphasizes Abold.

"But the helmet was totally broken, it may have saved his life."

Other ski mountaineers in the area immediately made an emergency call around 11 a.m.

The mountain rescue team called for the rescue helicopter Christoph Murnau, with which the mountain rescue team came to the scene of the accident.

After initial medical care, the helicopter crew took the man to the hospital.

Abold warns not so experienced tourers urgently against excursions in such high alpine terrain.

"Right now the conditions are extremely difficult, there is little snow, it is very icy." At the crash site, the terrain is certainly 45 degrees steep.

Appeal to inexperienced tourers: descents like the Kandahar require special skills

And Abold does not stop at the Alpspitze with his roll call.

He also clearly includes the Kandahar in the Kreuzeck area in his warning.

There were three more accidents there on the same day and thus deployments for the mountain rescue service, which was more than busy with six men that Sunday.

“We were out almost continuously from 10.30 a.m. to 6 p.m.,” he confirms.

Hardly had the operation at the Alpspitze been completed after a good two and a half hours when the next alarm hit the control center.

Again it was ski tourers - all from the greater Munich area - who had problems.

It was up and down that afternoon for the mountain rescuers.

First it went to the Bödele / Eishang area.

A ski mountaineer fell there while descending the Kandahar.

A thigh fracture was suspected.

The patient had to be taken care of, and the helicopter had to be called again.

The injured person was taken into the helicopter by winch and taken to the hospital.

Injured ski mountaineers: Mountain rescue service in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in constant use

Back at the depot there was no break.

This time a fall in the area of ​​the Tröglhütte.

The Garmisch-Partenkirchen ski guard looked after the skier, who may have broken his collarbone, until the mountain rescue service arrived.

The then took over the removal with the ambulance from the valley station of the Kandahar-Express'.

And that didn't stop there.

Abold and Co. had to go up the mountain again.

Another fall, this time a facial injury.

The operations manager attributes the fact that the missions have increased in recent weeks to the beautiful weather for excursions, but also to the conditions on the slopes.

“The Kandahar is not for beginners, especially not now.” Since the World Cup race track is mostly in the shade, the very mild temperatures recently are not enough to soften the completely frozen ground, which has been prepared for the world's best skiers.

Dangers on the descent: ski slopes as hard as concrete - "You have to be a good skier there"

“Partly it's like concrete.

You have to be a good skier and have sharp edges. ”In terms of material, the latter is seldom the case with beginners.

Abold warns: "The problem is currently not the ascent, the descents make touring much more difficult."

In Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a tourist with a Munich license plate parked his car right on the mountain.

A local resident's “memo” sparked a well-known debate.

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our new, regular GAP newsletter.

(By Christian Fellner)