Seven people

Group of young hikers rescued from high chair

There is still snow on the Hochstuhl. The hikers underestimated this (symbolic image).(Bild: Bergrettung)

A group of young hikers underestimated the masses of snow in the Karawanken mountains on Sunday. They had to make an emergency call and be rescued. The "Krone" spoke to a mountain rescuer about the operation.

A group of seven young hikers, all between 17 and 18 years old, wanted to conquer the Hochstuhl in the Bärental valley on Sunday. But at the Hochstuhl via ferrata at 1900 meters, they realized that it wasn't such a good idea after all. "They had simply left it too late and underestimated the amount of snow," explains Hubert Schuster from Ferlach Mountain Rescue. That's why the young hikers made an emergency call.

Police helicopter turned around for hikers
"We then immediately called for the police helicopter, as we realized that if we went up now, we would also be in the dark and that would have been dangerous for us too," said Schuster in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper. Initially, however, the helicopter was not available as it was on its way to a fire mission in Styria. However, the crew decided to support the Ferlach mountain rescuers. "And in the end, the seven hikers were brought down to the valley unharmed."

The Ferlach mountain rescue team was deployed with a total of 13 mountain rescuers and 2 female mountain rescuers.