Rescue workers end mountain tour: biathlete describes wrong path and fear of death

Rescuers finish mountain tour
Biathlete describes wrong path and fear of death

Actually, Gabriela Soukalova just wants to do a mountain tour by bike. But the path is impassable, the ex-biathlete continues on foot – and gets lost. At minus eight degrees Celsius, she spends the night outdoors and is already beginning to think about her fate. But then comes the rescue.

Former world-class biathlete Gabriela Soukalova has first spoken out about the dramatic hours that led to her disappearance and a large-scale rescue operation in the Italian municipality of Livigno on Wednesday. Soukalova explained to the Czech broadcaster “CNN Prima News” that originally only a small training tour on the bike through the Alps was planned. She then left for this on Wednesday afternoon as planned. After a few hours on the bike, however, the situation gradually got out of control.

“Unfortunately, at one point there was a destroyed path because the entire slope had collapsed. It took me a lot of effort to get over that point on my bike,” said the former biathlon world champion. She was already very exhausted before this climbing tour, after which she made the decision to turn around: “So I wanted to go back and tried to find a way using my GPS.”

Shortly thereafter, however, she came to a point that was no longer navigable by bike. “I then had to leave the bike there,” explained Soukalova, who then continued on foot. After only two kilometers, however, the path they had taken came to an abrupt end. To make matters worse, using GPS also drained the battery of her smartphone. She could no longer call for help. At that moment she realized that she would not come back to the hotel and spend the night outdoors, Soukalova recalled.

“They Said I’m a Wonder Woman”

Fearing bear attack the most, she climbed up a slope. “And I tried not to lose my body temperature through exercise so that I could survive in the cold,” reported the ex-biathlete of dramatic hours.

She didn’t sleep at temperatures of minus eight degrees Celsius, said Soukalova, who continued her odyssey the next morning: “I thought my only salvation was to climb a rock that was a few hundred meters above the valley. ” She expected a helicopter to come and find her there: “But they were looking for me somewhere else.” When she became aware of this, she thought: “Maybe it’s fate that the mountains want to keep me here.”

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In the end, however, Soukalova got lucky. Her cries for help were heard, and rescue workers arrived a little later, who could hardly believe what the former biathlete was going through. “When I showed them the path I climbed, they said I’m a wonder woman. They didn’t think anyone could climb that path.”

A little later, Soukalova arrived at the hospital, exhausted and only marked by a few bruises. There she also hugged her family again. “I imagined this reunion the whole time. When they hugged me, it was probably the most beautiful moment of my life,” said Soukalova.

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