Night-time operation

Two exhausted hikers rescued from the Schafberg

On the north side, the man and woman were rescued at night and escorted down into the valley.(Bild: Bergrettung St. Gilgen)

Two Czech hikers lost their way on the Schafberg near St. Gilgen on Monday. When it got dark and they ended up in a steep ditch with water, they alerted the mountain rescue team. They were able to bring them safely down to the valley in an operation that took hours.

Two Czechs started their hike in St. Wolfgang on Monday afternoon, which took them up the 1782-metre-high Schafberg. On the descent on the north side of the mountain, the 29-year-old man and the 32-year-old woman got lost: in a steep ditch that was carrying water, they were unable to continue and made an emergency call, explains Christian Rauter, head of operations at St. Gilgen Mountain Rescue. "They landed in a steep and water-bearing ditch, were exhausted and could go no further."

After the emergency call was received at around 7 pm, nine mountain rescuers from St. Gilgen made their way to the hikers. After two hours, they reached the Czechs, secured them with ropes and descended with them over the difficult terrain.

"We tried to reach them in two groups from above and below, which we succeeded in doing at around 9 pm. The woman in particular was very exhausted. Together we climbed up the trench with them. We had to attach safety ropes in places and work with them to overcome a good 400 meters of altitude with some difficult crossings in rough terrain," says Rauter, explaining the rescue mission. It was not until around two o'clock in the morning that the Czech holidaymakers were brought down to the valley unharmed but exhausted.