Sauerland: Visitors flood the snowy winter mountain – accidents and injuries

In most places in North Rhine-Westphalia there was no white Christmas. As a result, some people probably wanted to sniff a bit of winter mood in the area at least on their days off between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

So on Sunday (December 27, 2020) numerous visitors were drawn to the snowy Winterberg in the Sauerland. And that although the slopes are closed due to Corona and there was a storm warning.

According to the police, the village of Winterberg, shrouded in snowflakes, experienced an onslaught of visitors with traffic jams and a number of traffic accidents on Sunday (December 27).

Winterberg is a small town in the Rothaargebirge with around 13,000 inhabitants. The place in the Hochsauerlandkreis is known as the venue for world cup races in bobsleigh and luge sports and as a winter sports resort.

Winterberg: rush of visitors and traffic accidents

A police spokesman for the Hochsauerlandkreis reported in the evening that there were an extremely large number of visitors and traffic obstructions. "Lots of people and little experience with the white glory on the road," he said. There are still drivers who are not necessarily on the road with the right tires in snowfall and freezing wetness.

There have been a number of traffic accidents of a rather minor nature and also slightly injured.

City of Winterberg warned on Facebook against a visit

The city of Winterberg even asked on Sunday afternoon on its Facebook page to stop traveling to the area.

Long traffic jams formed and the parking lots were full. There were also numerous posts about the winter chaos in Winterberg on Twitter on Sunday. One user writes: "If you are angry about Ischgl and Verbier: We in North Rhine-Westphalia also have enough day tourists in Winterberg." Another user commented: "Winterberg make us Ischgl."

Another commentator writes: “What the conditions in Winterberg (and elsewhere) show: Reliance on reason and personal responsibility is pure illusion. Even our lockdown, dubbed “hard”, is a waste of time without a curfew. "

According to WDR, most of the day tourists came from the Ruhr area. On the federal highway towards A46, visitors were stuck in traffic for several kilometers.

After traffic jam chaos: City of Winterberg is considering further measures

The city of Winterberg now wants to discuss further measures with the police and road authorities on Monday (December 28).

Many people have already gone to Winterberg on a day trip over the past weekends.

In Austria, too, there were sometimes so large traffic jams on the weekend (December 26/27, 2020) that some places pulled the emergency brake and blocked access to the ski area. (dpa / jba)

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