The Lower Austria State Police Department announced on Monday that the couple was no longer able to proceed safely or descend safely due to a lack of equipment and because they had misjudged the snow conditions. The stake will be charged to both of them. The costs are likely to be several thousand euros.
The Lower Austrians had undertaken a climbing tour over the Alpine Club Trail from the Großer Höllental to the Raxalpe. In the area of the Gustav-Jahn-Steig in the municipality of Reichenau, they got into the snowfield and made an emergency call.
The via ferratas in the Großer Höllental are a popular touring area. “However, it should be noted that in the shady areas of the Rax there is often snow well into May and the via ferratas are either difficult or impossible to climb,” says the Reichenau Mountain Rescue Service. This is also currently the case: the climbs are still largely covered with snow, and rescuers are currently advising inexperienced via ferrata climbers not to go on tours.
Can also be used on high walls
On the Hohe Wand, a woman was also rescued on the rope on Sunday and transported to the Wiener Neustadt State Hospital by an emergency helicopter. According to the police, the 53-year-old from the St. Pölten district stumbled as a member of a group of three and was seriously injured.
According to its balance sheet, the Lower Austria-Vienna mountain rescue service completed 756 missions last year and worked around 10,000 hours of volunteer work. The year before there were 740, said state manager Matthias Cernusca in a press release.
