As of: March 11, 2024, 6:54 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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Three ski tourers got lost on a tour on the Großvenediger at the weekend.
A quick rescue failed due to a violent storm.
Prägraten am Großvenediger - A ski tour by three Munich residents (two men and a woman aged 24, 25 and 26) to the Großvenediger (3657 meters) on the border from Salzburger Land to East Tyrol almost ended in a fiasco at the weekend.
The trio got lost in the snowstorm in the Hohe Tauern (Austria) at 3,150 meters and were unable to descend in the evening.
Ski hikers get lost on the Großvenediger in Austria - lost orientation in the fog at the summit
The three winter sports enthusiasts climbed to the summit of the Großvenediger on Friday (March 8th) and then descended back to the Kürsinger Hütte.
According to the Salzburg mountain rescue service, they had already lost their orientation and were following another skier who was descending down the valley.
Mountain rescuers searched for the missing people in the darkness.
© Bergrettung Prägraten in East Tyrol.
But this one had a different goal.
He was not heading towards the Kürsinger Hütte in the Salzburger Land, where the trio wanted to spend the night, but towards the Matreier Tauernhaus in East Tyrol.
It was only when the four ski tourers had a conversation at the Alte Prager Hütte at an altitude of 2,489 meters that it became clear that they had taken a wrong turn.
The three Bavarians decided to get promoted again.
“They probably got lost and went in the direction of Defreggerhaus (Praegraten, Tyrol),” the Salzburg mountain rescue report continues.
When the three of them didn't arrive at the Kürsinger Hut in the evening and the hut owner couldn't reach them on his cell phone, he notified the Neukirchen am Großvenediger mountain rescue service.
The Großvenediger is a popular destination for downhill skiers © imageBROKER/Herbert Berger via www.imago-images.de
At around 9 p.m., 17 mountain rescuers moved out from Neukirchen towards Großvenediger.
The emergency services from the Prägraten and Matrei mountain rescue services were also alerted.
The search was unsuccessful that night.
“There was a storm with speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, visibility was poor,” reports Siegfried scratch, local branch manager of the Prägraten mountain rescue service in East Tyrol, to
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Trio digs a cave in the snow to survive at minus 14 degrees
The trio dug a cave in the snow and set up an emergency bivouac - while outside the storm roared through the mountains at minus 14 degrees.
“At around 7:35 a.m. on Saturday morning (March 9th), the three ski tourers were able to make an emergency call that reached the Tyrol control center,” reports the Salzburg mountain rescue service.
The Prägraten mountain rescue service was able to find the three lost people at 3,150 meters in the area of the upper entrance to the Rainerkees glacier.
They were exhausted but unhurt.
When visibility was poor, the ski tourers were accompanied to the next hut by the mountain rescue team.
© Bergrettung Prägraten in East Tyrol.
They were accompanied by the mountain rescue team to the Johanneshütte and then flown with the emergency medical helicopter to the Prägraten mountain rescue base.
Mountain rescuer: “It couldn’t have ended so harmlessly”
“They were weak and physically exhausted. If they hadn't been found early in the morning, things might not have turned out so harmlessly,” mountain rescuer Schieber continues.
“Apart from their mistake when turning, they had done everything right,” continueskrater.
“They were also well equipped.” A total of around 50 emergency services were on the move to save the trio.
It is still unclear whether they have to pay for the operation.
Two skiers from Baden-Württemberg who were buried in an avalanche in Vorarlberg were also very lucky at the weekend.
A ski hiker from Munich was recently killed by an avalanche in South Tyrol.
At least four people were killed in an avalanche in the French Massif Central