Despite gusts of wind at 60 km/h

Police helicopter rescues Styrian from 2000 meters

From Wildfeld in the Eisenerz Alps, the Styrian police helicopter had to rescue a ski tourer from a height of 2000 meters on Sunday. Despite strong winds and heavy gusts, the operation was successful. The 34-year-old Styrian was brought back to the valley safely.

Together with two friends, the 34-year-old from the district of Leoben undertook a ski tour to the Wildfeld in Kalwang on Sunday in fantastic conditions. The three mountaineers climbed from the Langteichen over the Grabnerspitz through steep terrain up to the Wildfeld.

Suddenly he could go no further
Around 50 meters below the summit at an altitude of around 2000 meters, the 34-year-old suddenly deviated from his companions' ascent route and ended up in steep and rocky terrain - apparently due to a mental block. After he was unable to go either forwards or backwards - despite having been up the mountain so many times - his friends had to call the emergency services.

More than 20 emergency services from the Eisenerz and Mautern mountain rescue teams then climbed up to the ski tourers. But it was only with the help of the "Libelle Steiermark" police helicopter that they managed to locate the Styrian from the air - despite gusty winds of up to 60 km/h.

Plane landed on a rocky outcrop
However, as a rope rescue was not possible due to the difficult conditions, the helicopter finally landed on a ledge. The flight operator (a police officer specially trained for high alpine areas) took the ski tourer on board and he was flown down safely.

The mountaineer remained physically unharmed. "He was really lucky. It was very steep terrain," said the police.