Czech hiker rescued after hours in Austria’s Totes Gebirge

ORF reported that a 19-year-old Czech hiker was rescued after spending hours injured in bad weather in the Totes Gebirge mountain range above Offensee in the Gmunden district.

The woman slipped below the Großer Scheiblingkogel on Tuesday afternoon in rain and fog and injured her ankle. She could not continue, so her 29-year-old companion alerted emergency services.

The pair had been on a multi-day trek through the Totes Gebirge since Monday and were travelling from the Hochkogelhaus to the Rinnerhütte.

Twenty-one mountain rescuers and an alpine police officer climbed to the hikers in two groups. Heavy rain and dense fog initially made a helicopter rescue impossible. After three and a half hours, the rescuers reached the pair. The woman was already showing signs of mild hypothermia.

Weather conditions eventually improved, and helicopter C14 rescued the woman shortly before 10 p.m. She was taken to the Salzkammergut Clinic in Bad Ischl. Her companion descended into the valley with the mountain rescuers.