Dutch hiker seriously injured after slipping in Austria | Abroad

Despite the bad weather, the man had gone with another Dutchman (42) for a mountain hike in the Dachstein massif in the Salzburg Alps. Things went wrong in the high mountain region of the Reißgangscharte when the two wanted to cross an old snowfield at an altitude of around 1,900 meters, the newspaper reports. Nightingale of Salzburg. The 30-year-old fell and slipped on the icy snow. He got stuck in the lower part of a canyon. His companion wanted to come to his aid, but was unable to cross the snowfield and alerted the mountain rescue service in Filzmoos, about 70 kilometers southeast of Salzburg, at around 1.40 p.m.

A police helicopter transported the mountain rescuers to the designated location. To get to the man safely, the rescue team had to use pickaxes to cut steps in the ice. The Dutchman appeared to be seriously injured. He was airlifted to the valley and handed over to a rescue helicopter team.

Since his shocked companion was also unable to continue, the helicopter flew back to the site in question. However, heavy fog made helicopter flight or rope rescue impossible. The mountain rescuers then descended on foot with the 40-year-old into the valley and the police helicopter team was able to leave after about an hour and fly to the Pinzgau for another rescue operation.

“As one of the men’s backpacks had been forgotten at the top, two mountain rescuers climbed up and then carried the luggage back down the valley,” operations manager Coen Weesjes said in a post on the service’s website. mountain rescue. It warns hikers in the mountains. “The conditions at this altitude are not at all suitable for such hikes. From 1700 meters above sea level there is still sometimes rock-hard snow in the northern part. In any case, you need crampons and spikes there.

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