In the Wilder Kaiser

Exhausted climbers “trapped” on the mountain overnight

Mountain rescuers from St. Johann (left) climbed up to the Poles in the pouring rain during the night and then helped with the rescue by the emergency helicopter in the morning hours.(Bild: Bergrettung St. Johann)

Because they took far too long to complete their tour, two Polish climbers got into mountain trouble in the Wilder Kaiser in Tyrol on Sunday. Despite pouring rain, mountain rescuers climbed up during the night and the climbers were only rescued by helicopter in the morning.

The two men (27 and 28 years old) had already set off from the Griesner Alm at 7 a.m. on Sunday and then climbed up the "Via Classica" climbing route towards the summit of the Fleischbank (2186 m). This is a climbing route with a fifth degree of difficulty. The average time for the tour is around 6 hours.

"They took forever for the tour"
"The normal descent route is via the summit. But the two men took forever to complete the tour. Because they were so late and it was pouring with rain, they decided to descend via the north ridge again," explains Thomas Müllauer from the St. Johann mountain rescue service.

We were in contact with the men, who had a light, by phone and wanted to give them the rest of the route over the phone.

Thomas Müllauer, Bergrettung St. Johann

However, the duo only made it to just above the so-called Fleischbank pillar at an altitude of around 1250 meters. Completely soaked and exhausted, the climbers raised the alarm at around 1 a.m. on Monday. As a reminder: they had started at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning.

The men were too exhausted
"We were in contact by phone with the men, who had light, and wanted to tell them the rest of the route by phone," says Thomas Müllauer. But the two mountaineers were obviously already far too exhausted to continue their descent.

Two-hour ascent for mountain rescuers
As a result, four mountain rescuers from St. Johann climbed up from the Griesner Alm in the most adverse weather conditions - pouring rain - during the night to reach the trapped men. "It took us around two hours to reach the hypothermic climbers," explains Müllauer. The emergency crews immediately began with the warmth management and provided the duo with drinks. 

The mountain rescuers then began the descent together with the Poles, but it was no longer possible to climb more than 100 meters due to their poor physical condition. 

The mountain rescuers descended from the scene on Monday morning.(Bild: Bergrettung St. Johann)

Rescued by helicopter rope
Meanwhile, two other mountain rescuers from St. Johann set off. "At dawn, they contacted the C 1 emergency helicopter, which then managed to reach the victims from the air at around 5 a.m. - also thanks to an improvement in the weather - and fly the duo down to the Stripsenjochhaus on a rope. We assisted the helicopter with the rescue," says Müllauer. 

Fortunately, the Poles were only slightly hypothermic, but otherwise uninjured and did not have to go to hospital. For the emergency services, it wasn't time to call it a day until around 9 o'clock in the morning.