If a person dies in the alpine area, specially trained police officers investigate.
One of them is Johannes Kufner, head of the Tölz police inspection.
Bad Tölz – "Some pictures never leave you," says First Police Chief Inspector Johannes Kufner (53).
One of these pictures is that of the mountain dead at the Herzogstand.
The woman was wearing the same shirt that his mother often wears.
And although it was immediately clear that the dead woman was a stranger, the image stayed in his head.
Kufner is actually the head of the Tölz police inspection.
In addition, he is a part-time member of the Alpine Action Group (AEG) of the police.
She is called when there is a search for missing persons in alpine terrain, but above all in the event of fatal accidents in the mountains.
There have already been 18 deaths on the mountain in the two districts this year
AEG West is responsible for the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
There have already been 18 deaths on the mountain this year.
Among them were three accidents in which two people died.
"We have seen a significant increase in the past few years," says Kufner.
One of the main reasons is the ongoing outdoor hype.
"What was 'My house, my car, my swimming pool' 20 years ago is today: 'My summit A, B and C'." Perhaps people's awareness of the dangers is simply sinking, they have more confidence, are less knowledgeable .
"And the company is also becoming easier and easier to plan: the GPS guides me through the tour, I don't need any orientation knowledge.
But if you don't approach the topic of mountains slowly, the experience lags behind," says Kufner.
"Kill mountains
Maximiliansteig: Provider of outdoor app corrects description
This lack of intuition was perhaps also responsible for the increase in mountain rescue operations in July on Maximiliansweg on the Benediktenwand.
A woman died, a hiker was only lucky to survive and a couple had to be rescued from the face by helicopter.
All of this was probably triggered by a tour description in an outdoor app.
“The Maximiliansteig is a classic example of this opportunity to get information on internet platforms and to be guided on the tour.
And if this path is not described as demanding because a professional walked it beforehand and gave his assessment of it, then that is more tempting than looking into the wall, which should actually say: I can't go there," says Kufner.
After the accumulation of operations, the police contacted the provider of the outdoor app.
He then took corrective action.
"Now the climb is classified more objectively again."
The police mountain guide is often alone at the scene
The AEG is made up of specially trained alpine officers and police mountain guides like Kufner, who have to complete several years of training.
The latter lead the investigations on the mountain, the alpine officials work.
Unlike, for example, fatal traffic accidents in the valley, where the tasks are spread over many shoulders, the mountain guide is usually alone at his place of action.
"Often it is not possible otherwise because the situation is so narrow or there is a risk of falling rocks." It is then also the task of the mountain guide to prepare the dead person for the rescue in the difficult terrain.
"Always hoping that the weather won't change or it'll get dark and the helicopter can really come."
"A fall from a great height always leads to horrid images"
Much of what Kufner sees at the crash sites cannot be described in a newspaper read at the breakfast table.
"A fall from a great height always results in horrific images." And they're not the only distressing factor.
After all, looking after relatives is also one of AEG's tasks.
“The official witnesses the emotional catastrophe on the mountain very closely.
He is trapped in the situation and has to combine the official with the human,” says Kufner.
Because often it is also about the question of whether someone else is partly to blame for the accident.
This weighing is particularly difficult when children have died and the parents were there.
Close contact with the public prosecutor's office is important here, as they decide whether the parents must be investigated.
"Dead children are particularly bad," says Kufner.
The less time there is between deployments, the greater the stress
He himself came to AEG in 1991 at the age of 22, first as an alpine officer and later as a mountain guide.
"Meanwhile there is hardly a mountain where I don't have memories of a fatal mountain accident," he says.
In the first few years, he wasn't really concerned with what these experiences do to you.
He regrets this lack of processing today.
“Meanwhile, we try to work through every assignment afterwards.
The less time there is between deployments, the greater the stress.
If there are only days in between, you can no longer compensate for that.”
A few missions end happily
But not all missions end badly.
"About 20 years ago someone fell in the area of the Notkarspitze.
Days later he was found upside down in a snow field.
Only the feet showed out.
Everyone was sure: nobody can survive that.
In fact, he did.” Kufner also remembers an assignment on the Alpspitze.
“The fall distance was easily 200 meters.
But the man was lucky that his backpack slipped over his head when he fell and everything important was protected.
He survived without life-threatening injuries.”
Searched for a missing person, found two dead
But most of the time it ends differently.
And then there was this one mission this year, in which Kufner was looking for a missing person and found two dead.
The search for a hiker was underway on the Sonnenberggrat.
"And indeed he was discovered from the air lying on a snow field." Kufner was sitting on the left side of the helicopter when he wanted to instruct the helicopter.
There was a brief debate because the pilot sitting on the right wanted to head for a spot a little further away.
"Finally, I realized that there was a second dead person just 20 meters away." This accident must also have just happened because the hiker had not even been reported missing at that time.
Do these experiences spoil your own joy of mountaineering?
"I wouldn't say spoil it," says Kufner.
"But I'm very happy that my own children aren't fond of mountains."
By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Bad Tölz newsletter.
You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.