In rain and storm

Exhausted US family rescued from via ferrata

The mountain rescuers laboriously fought their way with the Americans up the Nordkette to the Seegrube.(Bild: Bergrettung Innsbruck)

Another case of overconfidence and poor tour planning: on Sunday evening, the Innsbruck mountain rescue team had to rescue an American family of four from the Innsbruck via ferrata in the most adverse conditions. The alpinists were completely exhausted and were unable to continue.

What Innsbruck mountain rescue chief Bruno Berloffa had just criticized in the "Krone" newspaper was confirmed on Sunday: many tourists see great pictures and videos of the mountains around Innsbruck at home and think they can manage these tours themselves. They then find out on the ground that the Tyrolean mountains are rougher than the PR reports.

An American family of four from Boston (father 52, mother 48, daughters 17 and 15) took the Nordkettenbahn cable car up to the Hafelekar on Sunday morning and rented via ferrata sets on the Nordkette. At 11 a.m. they set off on the Innsbruck via ferrata, the first part of which they wanted to tackle.

The father was only wearing shorts. Everyone was totally exhausted and already hypothermic.

Bruno Berloffa, Ortsstellenleiter Bergrettung Innsbruck

Bild: Alberto Bernasconi

Rain and a strong north wind
"On the internet, the walking time to Kemacher is given as three to three and a half hours. But the group didn't get there until around 5 p.m.," explains Bruno Berloffa. The Americans had probably not studied the weather forecast carefully either, as rain started to fall in the Innsbruck area at around 2 pm. Berloffa: "There was also a strong northerly wind."

As a result, the quartet in the Kemacher area were at the end of their tether at around 5 p.m., and the weather conditions were also bad. They panicked and made an emergency call.

Shortly before the Seegrube.(Bild: Bergrettung Innsbruck)

The Americans first had to be brought to the Long Saddle via the very last section of the via ferrata.(Bild: Bergrettung Innsbruck, Krone KREATIV)

Fog made conditions difficult for the rescuers.(Bild: Bergrettung Innsbruck)

The mountain rescuers provided the hypothermic alpinists with warm blankets.(Bild: Bergrettung Innsbruck, Krone KREATIV)

"The helicopter couldn't fly because of the weather, so we drove up to the Seegrube with eight rescue workers and went over to the Langen Sattel below the Kemacher, where there is an emergency bivouac," says Berloffa, describing the start of the operation. The mountain rescuers then climbed up to the Americans and then climbed down to the Langen Sattel with the exhausted alpinists. 

Poor equipment
"They were not sufficiently equipped for the heavy rain, exhausted, soaked and hypothermic," says the mountain rescue chief. The emergency services therefore had to warm the Americans at the bivouac with rescue blankets and provide them with additional clothing.

Foot march on slippery terrain
Then began the arduous walk on slippery terrain back to the Seegrube. The parents in particular were in a very poor physical condition. Nevertheless, the emergency services managed to bring the quartet safely and unharmed to the Seegrubenbahn mountain station. "Thankfully, the Nordkettenbahn cable car was waiting and took us to Innsbruck at around 9.30 pm," says Berloffa. As an "additional service", the mountain rescuers drove the exhausted but uninjured Americans to the hotel. 

The daughters' original plan to spend Monday at the climbing center in Innsbruck probably came to nothing, smiles the mountain rescuer.