Seriously injured

Nasty “surprise”: climber (35) falls from a height

"Birthday surprise" is the name of the via ferrata in the Tannheim mountains in Tyrol, which two experienced alpinists (35 and 41) climbed on Sunday morning. For one of the men, however, the tour had a nasty surprise in store. 

The 41-year-old Austrian and his 35-year-old colleague from Germany climbed the via ferrata with a high degree of difficulty coming from Wängle at around 11 am. The men were taking it in turns to lead climb.

They fell seven meters
When it was the 35-year-old's turn again, it happened: the climber's hand slipped off a lower hold. As a result, a sling came loose from the anchorage and the German fell around seven meters into the rope. Although his climbing partner was able to hold him, the 35-year-old crashed into the rock face several times.

Both ankle joints broken
While trying to support himself, the climber broke both ankles. His colleague abseiled him down to the belay station and alerted the rescue team. The casualty was rescued by the RK2 rescue helicopter and flown to Reutte Hospital.