Too little snow

Two snowboarders taken off the Krippenstein by helicopter

The two Finns were rescued with the police helicopter (symbolic image)

(Bild: Bergrettung Klagenfurt)

Goodbye snow - a pair of Finnish snowboarders almost hurt themselves on the Krippenstein. The two had already skied there two months ago, but there was still plenty of white splendor. They made a mess of the descent, then had to give up due to a lack of snow and were rescued by helicopter.

A 34-year-old woman and her husband of the same age, both Finnish citizens, got into difficulties on Sunday afternoon in the Dachstein Krippenstein ski area. The two had taken the Dachstein Südwandbahn gondola lift from Ramsau am Dachstein to the Hunerkogel in the morning. From there, they walked or skied with their splitboards along the ski tour markings across the Dachstein plateau to the Krippenstein in Obertraun.

They had already been there two months ago
The couple were familiar with the freeride offer on the Krippenstein from a previous vacation about two months ago. The couple therefore wanted to ski down into the valley via the "Angeralm" variant this time too. However, as there was much less snow on this day than in January, the descent was different than usual for the Finns. The two skiers overlooked the exit from the variant due to the missing or barely recognizable downhill tracks and skied too far downhill into the terrain.

Descent was no longer possible
Due to the lack of snow, the two had to take off their snowboards and tried to make their way down to the valley on foot. However, as the terrain became steeper and steeper, in the area of a waterfall, the athletes had to realize that a further descent was no longer possible and that the way back on foot would take a lot of time and energy.

Emergency call made
They therefore called the emergency number for the Krippenstein cable car on their cell phones at around 3.30 pm. The emergency situation was passed on to the Gmunden Alpine Police and the Obertraun Mountain Rescue Service. The Air Police helicopter, Libelle Sierra, was requested to carry out the rescue. The crew was able to pick up the two well-equipped winter sports enthusiasts using a rescue rope and fly them down to the valley unharmed.