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Alpine drama about missing mountaineers: "The last straw" - mountain rescuers locate the signal

2022-10-03T03:13:49.389Z


Alpine drama about missing mountaineers: "The last straw" - mountain rescuers locate the signal Created: 03/10/2022 05:03 By: Katarina Amtmann A climber has been missing on the Hochkalter since Saturday. The weather made the search difficult. The hope of finding the missing person alive is dwindling every day. Update from September 23, 11:38 a.m .: The search for the 24-year-old missing from H


Alpine drama about missing mountaineers: "The last straw" - mountain rescuers locate the signal

Created: 03/10/2022 05:03

By: Katarina Amtmann

A climber has been missing on the Hochkalter since Saturday.

The weather made the search difficult.

The hope of finding the missing person alive is dwindling every day.

Update from September 23, 11:38 a.m

.: The search for the 24-year-old missing from Hochkalter is stopped after six days.

The rescuers are hoping for milder temperatures and thaws (see previous update).

The police announced on Thursday evening that everything humanly possible had been done.

"It has once again come true: 'The mountain was stronger,'" said a police spokesman in the evening to

t-online.

Emergency services break off search for missing climber after six days

Update from September 23, 10:05 a.m .:

“Response forces stop searching for the 24-year-old missing at Hochkalter after six days,” is how the Bavarian Red Cross overwrites its latest press release on Friday.

The mountain rescue service and the police took advantage of the better weather on Thursday and continued to search for the missing 24-year-old.

However, they have "interrupted the search for the time being due to the wind-blown snow on the mountain, which was up to three meters high in some places, until the milder temperatures, even at higher altitudes, may cause thaw to set in again before winter."

The police announced on Thursday evening: "At the moment, the 24-year-old remains missing despite the massive search operation.

Since the day of the accident, the local mountain rescue service and the police have done everything humanly possible to find the missing person alive.

To this end, well over a thousand hours of service were provided by the volunteers of the mountain rescue service on the mountain and in the valley and the full-time alpine mountain guides of the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South.

Due to the overall circumstances, the mission over the past few days has not only been physically but also mentally extremely taxing.”


The search for the missing person is suspended for the time being.

© BRK

Missing at the Hochkalter: search measures are currently not effective

"Under the current circumstances, especially due to the snow situation in the defined area, further search measures are currently not effective without concrete clues, the BRK continues. However, the mountain rescue service and the police are keeping a close eye on the situation on the mountain and will search again if the snow is thaws away at milder temperatures.


Alpine drama about missing mountaineers: "Everything humanly possible" done - search canceled again

Update from September 22, 7:07 p.m .:

Thursday ended again without a report of success in the search for the missing 24-year-old climber from Lower Saxony.

The rescue workers had to stop their search.

A police spokesman said in the evening that "everything that was humanly possible" and technically feasible had been done.

In the next few days, the search will be continued depending on the situation - if the resources allow it.

In the Hochkalter area near Ramsau, the situation is dead winter.

Temperatures are below freezing.

After six days, there is little hope of finding the 24-year-old alive.

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Search for missing climbers: Helicopter receives signal

Update from September 22, 4:15 p.m .:

The mountain rescuers continued to search for the 24-year-old until Thursday afternoon – in vain.

Because of the warming, however, the risk of falling rocks and avalanches increased and the search became too dangerous for emergency services - a helicopter picked them up and brought them back to the valley.

In the afternoon, however, finally positive news: According to a police spokesman, the positioning system of a helicopter received a signal from a rock face in the search area.

The helicopter will again bring mountain rescuers to the Hochkalter to search the promising spot.

"This is the last straw in the search for today," said the spokesman.

What exactly triggered the signal, however, is unclear.

The locating system reacts to semiconductors and reflectors.

So it's possible that the signal came from the cell phone or the jacket of the missing person.

Mountaineer Messner on the hope that the missing person will be found alive

Update from September 22, 12:25 p.m .:

A 24-year-old climber has disappeared from the Hochkalter since Saturday.

The search was often difficult due to the weather (see first report).

"While I'm not on site, I think the chances of finding the young man alive are minimal.

But miracles happen from time to time," says Reinhold Messner (78) in an interview with the

picture (plus content).

"It is unlikely that he was able to dig a useful snow cave at this time of year and with his injuries," the expert suspects Weather. Normally, you should have turned around at the first sleet, and then you're actually safe quickly. Many can't cope with the big nature, only see the postcard motifs, "Messner continued to the newspaper.

The rescuers tried everything, my mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner.

© IMAGO / Hartenfelser / Bergwacht Ramsau / dpa-Bildfunk (Collage: Merkur.de)

Extremely cold drama: Mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner with an assessment

"When I look at the pictures, the mountain rescuers really did their best despite the weather and tried everything to find the missing person despite all the dangers," says the mountaineering legend.


“It is always important – when you are out and about alone – to tell others where you are going.

Many inexperienced mountaineers, although usually well equipped, underestimate the mountains - this magnificent natural phenomenon that can be very dangerous," he warns.

Drama in the Alps: search for missing mountaineers on the Hochkalter – Eurofighters are also in action

First report from September 22nd, 8.36 a.m .:

Ramsau – A young climber (24) has been missing on the Hochkalter since Saturday.

The search had to be temporarily called off due to the weather.

On Wednesday, the mountain rescue service and the police took advantage of the generally better weather and continued the search.

Drama in the Alps: mountaineers still missing on the Hochkalter – backpack found

On the Hochkalter, the missing 24-year-old was searched for from the air with the Recco buoy and at potential location points with emergency services in the field.

A weather balloon was found around noon and the young man's backpack was found in the late afternoon.

Mountain rescuers have been looking for a missing 24-year-old climber under sometimes dangerous conditions since Saturday.

© Bavarian Red Cross / District Association Berchtesgadener Land / Merkur collage

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Climbers on the Hochkalter missing: even Eurofighter in search in use

"Due to clouds moving around, it was no longer possible in the evening to use the winch to lower other emergency services to the mountain, which could have searched the area below the backpack with a rope," said the Bavarian Red Cross on Thursday (September 22).

A police helicopter and a federal police transport helicopter were involved in the search.

In the late afternoon, a Luftwaffe Eurofighter was also flying over the Hochkalter "to support the rescuers with additional location technology and high-resolution aerial photographs," the BRK continued.

A Bundeswehr Eurofighter helped with the search on the Hochkalter.

© Bergwacht Ramsau

Hochkalter: Search for missing climber continues

It is planned for Thursday to search the area below the backpack, which was recovered that evening, with mountain rescuers in the area.

The young man from Lower Saxony slipped below the 2607 meter high summit on a high alpine tour on Saturday.

He made an emergency call because he could hardly hold himself up in the steep terrain in the freezing cold and snowstorm.

Since then all contact has been lost. 

(came)

All news and stories from Bavaria can now also be found on our brand new Facebook page Merkur Bayern.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-10-03

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