Where to go in the pandemic
Many Germans forego air travel, and even cross the border into Austria.
Bavaria's mountain rescuers feel it: In 2021 there were more accidents and mountain deaths than ever before - and the trend is unlikely to end.
Munich / Grainau
- Full parking spaces, traffic jams, rubbish and other legacies in the meadows - the run on the Bavarian Alps has set new records. The rescue workers in particular notice this. According to the Bavarian Mountain Rescue Service, the number of accidents peaked in 2021: In the summer it had to be deployed 3,650 times, around 250 times more than in the previous year and 800 times more than in 2017, when there were just under 2,840 deployments. "The popularity of outdoor activity because of the low risk of infection, the limited opportunities for other sports and the difficulties in traveling led to the very high pressure to use it," says mountain rescue service spokesman Roland Ampenberger.
"The fact that the urge to go outside is not only due to the pandemic," says Willi Kraus, who, as the head of the Grainau mountain rescue service, coordinates around forty active mountain rescue workers around the Zugspitzdorf in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district and had to move out around 100 times in 2021 .
“Free time is becoming more and more important.
Everyone must have seen and done everything once - that's the new mentality. "
2021: Bergwacht Bayern complains about the high number of operations and fatal accidents
In the past, the mountain rescue service was mainly on duty on beautiful summer and autumn weekends, says the 53-year-old. Today all year round, including during the week and in all weathers. “Hiking is no longer the high season,” says Kraus. It was quiet over Christmas, but between the years the Grainau mountain rescuers were called to the “Eisenzeit” via ferrata: “That seems to be the new fashion tour,” says Kraus. “In winter 2000 vertical meters over the north side to the Zugspitze? Many overestimate each other! Again and again."
But not only the number of operations is striking, but also the number of deaths in the mountains: From the Zugspitze to Berchtesgaden, the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters counted 50 deaths last year (2020: 34). The Berchtesgaden police mountain guide Jörg Fegg is used to the rush to his home, but surprised him in 2021: “18 dead only here? It's crazy! ”Otherwise it would be ten or twelve. “With the end of the lockdown, the ski tours started. We were overrun because you weren't allowed to go to Austria. That continued in the summer. ”There were mega-jams. Up to 200 campers would have stood at the Königssee parking lot. Four people died on the Watzmann alone. "Basic alpine training is simply missing far too often," says Fegg, as does Kraus. Often unreason also reigns. “We often see hair-raising things.“For example, parents with children in the child carrier on difficult via ferratas.
In September, Fegg's team was looking for a Berliner in the Steinerne Meer when the next emergency call came in: A dead man at the Watzmann.
As it turned out days later, it was an Argentinean on a backpack tour through Europe.
"I suspect that he was up when the weather wasn't ideal and that he descended in the wrong direction," says Fegg.
"When the fog turned, he no longer knew where it came from." Such cases preoccupied the mountain rescuers for years - the Berliner has not yet been found.
Bavaria: The number of mountain accidents could increase in 2022 due to the ski season
"It seems to me as if some people are simply marching into the blue," says Kraus.
“According to the motto: I have a cell phone with me.
Somebody will help me if something goes wrong. ”Meanwhile, it is essential to assess yourself correctly.
Is the tour suitable for me?
Am I properly equipped?
Will the weather hold up and do I know the way?
These are questions that everyone should ask themselves in front of a wall.
Most accidents happen while hiking, followed by mountain biking.
The e-bike has also opened up previously inaccessible regions for the less trained.
After falls, cardiovascular problems are among the most common causes of death - and 2022 could be even more accident prone: unlike in the previous year, the ski lifts are running.
Fatalities on the slopes are rare, but accidents are common.
