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Drama at the Hochkalter: 24-year-old trapped in snow hell – mountain rescue service still has hope of finding him alive

2022-09-22T02:51:22.443Z


Drama at the Hochkalter: 24-year-old trapped in snow hell – mountain rescue service still has hope of finding him alive Created: 09/22/2022, 04:45 am By: Katrin Woitsch A 24-year-old from Lower Saxony set out alone on a tour of the Hochkalter and was surprised by the ice and snow. The search for him had to be called off on Saturday night. But there is still hope that he might survive. Ramsau –


Drama at the Hochkalter: 24-year-old trapped in snow hell – mountain rescue service still has hope of finding him alive

Created: 09/22/2022, 04:45 am

By: Katrin Woitsch

A 24-year-old from Lower Saxony set out alone on a tour of the Hochkalter and was surprised by the ice and snow.

The search for him had to be called off on Saturday night.

But there is still hope that he might survive.

Ramsau –

The weather conditions on the Hochkalter are just terrible.

Freezing wind, blizzard, fresh snow and fog.

A 24-year-old from Lower Saxony must have mercilessly underestimated the conditions when he set off alone on a tour on Saturday.

He had traveled by train, but a friend who wanted to accompany him canceled because of the bad weather.

Blizzard, fog, freezing cold: The rescuers searched for the missing person under extreme conditions.

© Bergwacht Ramsau

Drama at the Hochkalter: vacationer falls and injures himself

The young man decided to go the tour alone - and had an accident.

"It was obviously not clear to him what he was getting himself into," says Markus Leitner, spokesman for the BRK in Berchtesgadener Land.

In the afternoon in the high alpine area it was minus 6 degrees, wind and fog, then snowfall came along.

At an altitude of around 2500 meters, the young man fell and made an emergency call.

The emergency services in Ramsau initially received the information that the man had injured his head in the fall and probably broke both arms.

However, this later turned out to be false information.

However, he lost his gloves in the fall.

"Response forces were dropped off at the base of the cloud in the Ofental valley by rescue helicopter," reports Leitner.

In fog and snow, they climbed to the spot where the casualty was suspected.

The rescuers were in contact with the 24-year-old via cell phone.

He tried to descend further, but found no more trail markers.

Eventually it got so steep and slippery that he could barely hold himself up.

He sent his coordinates to the emergency services via WhatsApp.

"The accuracy is about 70 meters," says Leitner.

The search was still unsuccessful in high alpine areas and with poor reception and weather conditions.

The search for the missing person is underway on the Hochkalter.

© Graphics MM

Mountain rescue calls the missing person several times

The Ofental is mostly cut off from the radio, the rescuers had to set up additional devices in order to be able to strengthen the radio and continue to be able to call the 24-year-old.

On the phone he reported that he was cold and no longer knew exactly where he was, reports Leitner.

The mountain rescue service asked him to call out loud for help - in the hope of finding him faster.

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The ground was now covered with half a meter of snow.

The wind was so strong that the emergency services could hardly communicate.

In sunshine, the man could have been rescued by helicopter within an hour, says Leitner.

"In these weather conditions, the emergency services might not have heard or seen him if he had been a few meters away.

A trifle has turned into a catastrophe.”

The most important thing is to protect yourself from the wind.

Michael Leitner, mountain rescue service Berchtesgadener Land

Rescue team must call off search

In the evening hours, the risk for the rescue workers increased and increased.

A team had to shelter themselves from the freezing wind in an emergency tent at the summit, and the mountain rescuers on the west side had to dismount.

Everything was now frozen.

Every step had to be secured with Seien.

Around 10 p.m., all emergency services were back in the Ofental.

In the meantime, the crisis intervention team had contacted the 24-year-old's parents, who made their way to Ramsau.

Rescuers last reached the young man on his cell phone at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.

They encouraged him and gave him tips on how to keep warm.

"Apparently he has enough provisions with him," says Leitner.

"The most important thing is to protect yourself from the wind." Leitner does not know how well equipped the man is.

"If he has a bivouac sheepsack and can build a snow cave or find a spot sheltered from the wind, he could survive a few days in the cold." His cell phone battery has been dead since Saturday evening.

The weather conditions are still so bad that the emergency services can currently only search for him by helicopter.

The weather is only supposed to improve on Wednesday, until then no further rescue team will be able to go up.

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Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-09-22

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