An Unusual Rescue Mission

Mountaineer Lost a Boot: Mountain Rescuers Brought a Replacement

With new shoes and escorted by two mountain rescuers, the man hiked back safely.(Bild: Bergrettung Seefeld)

When a mountaineer in the Karwendel Mountains in Tyrol “lost” a hiking boot, the Seefeld Mountain Rescue Team was dispatched on an unusual mission. They brought the man a pair of replacement boots.

There are missions that stay particularly vivid in the memories of Tyrolean mountain rescuers. Most of these are very delicate operations. Then there are those that stick in the memory because, although simple, they were quite special. The Seefeld/Reith Mountain Rescue Team recently had to respond to one such mission.

Shoe Fell into a Gully
What happened? A local mountaineer was on the high-altitude trail between the Nördlinger Hut and the Solsteinhaus. Near the Kuhljochspitze (2,297 m), the mishap with the shoe occurred. Apparently, while taking a break, the local briefly took off his hiking boots, and one of them tumbled down into a gully. Retrieving it seemed too dangerous.

With new boots and escorted by two mountain rescuers, the man hiked back safely.(Bild: Bergrettung Seefeld)

Exposed, challenging high-altitude trail
The hiker then no longer felt confident continuing on the exposed and challenging trail—and alerted the Tyrol Control Center. The call was immediately forwarded to the Seefeld/Reith Mountain Rescue Service. There, local station manager Andreas Wanner was initially taken aback.

Equipped with a pair of spare shoes, the local man (right) rode down into the valley with the mountain rescuers in the Nördlinger Hütte’s supply cable car.(Bild: Bergrettung Seefeld/Reith)

“We thought about it briefly and wanted to call in the police helicopter ‘Libelle Tirol’ to pick up the man. After all, the flying conditions were good that day,” Wanner explained in an interview with the “Krone.” However, the “Libelle” was already busy elsewhere that day and was in almost constant use. So the Seefeld mountain rescuers decided to carry out a ground-based rescue operation.

Neighbor Brought Replacement Shoes
After contacting the “shoe victim” by phone, they agreed to pick up a spare pair of shoes from the man’s home in Reith bei Seefeld—and bring them to him. To do this, they contacted one of the man’s neighbors. She arrived at the Reith village square with the spare shoes, where she handed them over to two mountain rescuers.

Hiker Met the Rescuers
The two mountain rescuers then took the equipment cable car to the Nördlinger Hut, which the hut owner kindly put into operation especially for this purpose. “They then jogged toward the man, who was slowly coming toward them,” Wanner describes: “He had tied two sticks to his feet and wrapped a scrap of cloth around one of them.”

Down to the valley via the equipment cable car
With the new pair of shoes on his feet, he then made his way back to the Nördlinger Hut, escorted by the mountain rescuers. The trio rode the equipment cable car back down to the valley. 

The bill for the mishap
“The man was very grateful; he simply didn’t know what to do without a shoe,” says mountain rescuer Wanner. Now, of course, a bill for the shoe rescue is on its way to his home...