Berchtesgaden Alps
Signal located – search for mountaineer continues
After another search operation on the Hochkalter, rescue workers return to Ramsau near Berchtesgaden. photo
© Kilian Pfeiffer/dpa
Between icy rocks and snow-filled gullies, mountain rescuers on the Hochkalter are using avalanche probes and high-tech to search for a missing 24-year-old from Lower Saxony. Not without risk to themselves.
After a new tip, mountain rescuers in the Berchtesgaden Alps resumed their search for a mountaineer who had an accident on Thursday afternoon. A police spokesman said the signal was received with a special positioning technique on a helicopter from a rock face in the search area. The helicopter is now supposed to bring mountain rescuers to the Hochkalter area near Ramsau to search for the 24-year-old. “This is the last straw in the search for today.”
The mountain rescuers had previously given up the search for the injured mountaineer from Lower Saxony because the danger to the helpers was too great. The helicopter then flew over the search area for the last time and picked up the signal, the police spokesman said. What triggered the signal was initially unclear. The tracking technology reacts to semiconductors and reflectors, such as those sewn into some outdoor jackets.
The 24-year-old climber has been missing since Saturday. At that time he had made an emergency call because he had slipped in a snowstorm just below the summit of the 2607 meter high Hochkalter and could hardly hold his ground in the steep and slippery terrain. After several phone calls, contact broke off. Mountain rescuers found his backpack on Wednesday, but he himself was missing.