Mountain accidents: More operations now than in 2021
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The number of mountain rescue operations is already more than ten percent higher than in the previous year. And although the hiking autumn is not over yet, confirms the head of the Austrian mountain rescue service in Salzburg, Balthasar Laireiter.
The mountain rescuers in Salzburg have already been deployed to 618 missions this year, so the pre-pandemic level has been reached again. What is particularly striking this year is the high number of mountaineers who have lost their bearings in the terrain.
111 people taken from the mountain by September without an accident
“By the end of September that was 67 people we were looking for after they got lost. Another 44 could not continue because they were too exhausted. A total of 111 people didn’t really suffer an accident, but couldn’t find their way down the mountain because of disorientation and exhaustion,” says Balthasar Laireiter, head of the mountain rescue service.
Social Media: “Don’t Rely on Difficulty Levels”
He urges everyone to plan their tours properly and warn against relying on social media posts for difficulty ratings. “You know the people who don’t post articles in the media and if a good mountaineer writes an article now, the level of difficulty does not necessarily apply to everyone. An easy tour for a good climber can be life-threatening for an inexperienced climber. That’s why it’s important to plan your tours properly and to take into account who is the weakest in the group. It is also important to note how far you can go yourself so that it doesn’t happen that you stand on the mountain and can’t come down,” says the head of the Austrian mountain rescue service in Salzburg, Balthasar Laireiter.