Storm, avalanches and waist-deep snow: mountain rescuers free alpinists in adverse conditions

Created: 12/29/2021, 9:23 PM

From: Christian Fellner

Two locations, two missions: through the Kistenkar, the rescuers climb the Hohe Kiste above Eschenlohe, while the Grainau people are at work at the tunnel window.

© bW

Six hours on duty in storms and snow: The mountain rescuers from Oberau, Ohlstadt and Grainau had to fight hard again on Tuesday.

Two mountaineers were stuck on the Hohe Kiste and two on the “Iron Age” climbing route to the Zugspitze.

Eschenlohe / Grainau

- The mountain rescue services in Grainau, Oberau and Ohlstadt on Tuesday kept two missions lasting around six hours.

In both cases, mountaineers were stuck and had to be rescued from their position in adverse conditions.

Both missions ended lightly in the end.

An overview:

Gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour force rescuers to rescue the ground

Tall box

: the alarm came at 1:44 p.m. Two mountaineers are stuck below the Hohe Kiste in a difficult-to-access crash site at 1850 meters. A 28-year-old and his 22-year-old companion, both from the Augsburg area. The large-scale operation started immediately. "Fortunately, we had cell phone contact the whole time," emphasizes operations manager Josef Lohr from Oberau. Because the rescue operation was anything but easy. Especially the stormy wind with gusts of up to 90 kilometers per hour made the work difficult. At the beginning it was not clear whether an air rescue would be possible. In any case, Lohr asked his colleagues from Ohlstadt for help. "Without her we probably wouldn't have made it either," he admits.

13 men from Oberau, ten men from the neighborhood stand on the way. Two helicopters tried their luck, but kept giving up. “As a plan B we prepared a rescue from the ground.” At least the helicopter Christoph Murnau managed to bring two rescuers towards the mountain. From there, the first set out on foot over 200 meters in altitude through the Kistenkar to establish a line of sight.

When this succeeded, it quickly became clear that the only way to get to those who were stuck was from above - from the ridge of the Hohe Kiste. Fortunately, the helicopter has meanwhile been able to bring four more mountain guards with rescue equipment to this point. "It took three hours before we could get to the two of them," says Lohr. "That is certainly not an easy thing psychologically, but we were always in conversation, they were able to inform them what was happening." The alpinists and a rescuer are finally in the package via pulley via the so-called Dyneema rope, a special, 200-meter-long lifeline Muscle strength has been pulled up towards the summit ridge. “About 80 meters in altitude,” notes Lohr.

Since the weather hadn't improved, the climbers had to be taken to Kuhalm on foot. A walk of around 45 minutes through the blizzard. This also prevented a police helicopter from being able to help with the removal. To make matters worse, some avalanches had gone off below the Kuhalm, so that the mountain rescue service got stuck in the snow with their vehicles. A path had to be cleared by hand for the ATV quad to bring the two people into the valley. "We are always happy when an assignment goes so well, that's why we train all year round," says Lohr, but he admits one thing: "We don't need such an assignment every day." He wanted major reproaches to the mountaineers not formulate. “They were already fit and certainly also tried and tested in the Alps."One thing, however, Lohr points out:" Our peaks in the foothills of the Alps are underestimated, there is also a lot of snow, even if it is green below. "

Rescue through the tunnel window of the Zugspitzbahn - mountain security men waist high in the snow

"Eisenzeit" / Zugspitze

: The comrades from Grainau experienced a similar incident. Two climbers were also stuck with them. The alarm came shortly after 5 p.m. At first it was said that the two were located below the Zugspitze summit, but after contacting them it turned out that they were stuck in the middle of the Iron Age climbing route. They started early, but made too bad progress, turned around, but then only came to the so-called light support. Seven mountain rescuers started with the cogwheel train. They descended from the tunnel window through waist-deep snow and in a storm. They were finally able to bring the climbers to safety by rope and pulley. Only around 9.45 p.m. were all men back on safe ground, and around 11 p.m. the mission was finally over.

You can find more news from Garmisch-Partenkirchen here.

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