2023-05-31 06:49:18
Two holidaymakers from North Rhine-Westphalia who were rescued from mountain distress on the still wintry Watzmann moaned the helpers of the mountain rescue service following their complex rescue. According to their own description, the rescuers had previously had to urge them on the mountain to follow the instructions so that the helicopter might use a small gap in the clouds when visibility was very poor.
After landing, the 37-year-old and his 29-year-old companion complained that they had never been treated so badly as patients, as reported by the Ramsau mountain rescue service near Berchtesgaden.
Climbed when crossing the Watzmann
16 mountain rescue workers and two helicopters were on duty for up to seven hours on Sunday to rescue the two tourists from Münsterland. The two got lost in the fog between the central and southern peaks when they crossed the Watzmann in winter, which was still wintry. They weren’t hurt, but at regarding five degrees at regarding 8,000 feet, they were too exhausted to go any further.
The crews of the Salzburg emergency doctor helicopter “Christophorus 6” and then the police helicopter “Edelweiß 6” first flew several emergency services with extensive equipment to the Watzmannhaus in shuttle traffic, which then continued on foot over the Hocheck and the ridge to the vacationers.
With visibility of only a few meters, a complex deployment of ground forces then began, and a helicopter circled constantly over the mountain in order to be able to winch the two on board immediately if there was a gap in the clouds.
Climbers didn’t want to leave their sleeping bag behind
When this moment finally came, according to the mountain rescue service, there was a dispute because the mountaineers did not want to leave their unpacked sleeping bags behind, as ordered to save time. A rescue in the high mountains in wind and weather is neither a guaranteed nor an uncritical thing, commented mountain rescue spokesman Michael Renner.
Those affected might not always assess the explosiveness of the situation and the high risk for themselves and for the mountain rescuers. “An abandoned sleeping bag has no relation to human life and health!” But the rescuers didn’t want to overstate the complaint either: “Those affected react differently to the impressions of an exceptional situation than they might otherwise.”
However, the rescuers were irritated by the expectations of many hikers and mountaineers: “We are increasingly surprised by the dangerous expectations that “rescue in the high mountains in wind and weather would be both a guaranteed and an uncritical thing,” it said. Some mountaineers would often not assess the situation correctly.”For us, too, the operation in the slippery and difficult-to-assess old snow on the crash site was risky,” explains Renner.
With information from dpa
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