A Czech couple (24, 21) had an uncomfortable night on Monday. After getting lost several times, it had to spend the night on the north face of the Schermberg in Grünau im Almtal.
The 24-year-old woman and the 21-year-old man wanted to climb the wall via the “Linzer Weg” on Sunday, lost a lot of time on the difficult route and finally got stuck in the dark. The tour is considered very demanding due to the difficult orientation and route finding, wide hook spacing and length. They tried to call 911 on their cell phones, but had no signal. As a last resort, they texted the woman’s father about their emergency situation. He was able to notify the rescue workers in the Czech Republic, who in turn informed the Upper Austrian mountain rescue service. However, these turned out to be false, which is why a police helicopter from Vienna was called in to precisely locate the two. Due to the exposed and rockfall-prone terrain, a rescue at night was impossible. The two were told to bivouac on the spot. According to the police, rescue at night would have been difficult due to the exposed terrain and the risk of falling rocks. “A rescue operation that night was just too dangerous. In addition, the two were obviously uninjured,” confirms mountain rescue operations manager Dieter Auinger. In the early morning hours, the couple was able to independently descend around 100 meters to an altitude of 2030 meters, where the Czechs were located and rescued with a rope. The well-equipped and experienced duo remained unharmed apart from minor injuries.
source site-12