Did the 19-year-old tourist from Finland notice what happened just three days after his daring trip to the Watzmann? If it hadn’t already become clear to him on Easter Sunday when he rescued himself by helicopter from a snowfield below the southern tip of the danger he was in, then he probably would have realized it after the Ramsau Mountain Rescue Service’s next mission on Wednesday at the latest. The mountain rescuers had to fetch two young men again from the south side of the Watzmann, this time 21 and 24 years old and from Rhineland-Palatinate. Like her, her 20-year-old companion slipped on a snowfield, but unlike them, was no longer able to hold on to the slope and fell 300 meters down and to his death. The police later recovered his body.
The two missions differ not only in how they ended. Because the young Finn simply went straight through the Wimbachgries to the 2,713-meter-high Watzmann, which was surrounded by a foehn storm, only in the afternoon and only in sneakers, sweatpants and a sweater. His three friends couldn’t convince him to turn back, but they climbed back down themselves and called the mountain rescue service in the valley around 8 p.m. An hour and a half later, a police helicopter located him with a thermal imaging camera 2,250 meters below the southern tip and dropped off a mountain rescuer there, who secured him and flew him out on the winch.
The three mountaineers from Rhineland-Palatinate, on the other hand, had already crossed the famous Watzmanngrat from the north on Wednesday when they slipped while descending through the snow at around 2,300 meters. The two who were still able to hold on first descended to their fallen companion and then further up to 1,700 meters before their cell phones finally had reception again and they were able to call for help around 5 p.m.
The Watzmann and especially its crossing are literally overcrowded in summer, but even then it’s actually not for sneaker hikers and occasional alpinists. In winter and early spring, the crossing becomes a high alpine undertaking for really experienced mountaineers, the chairman of the Berchtesgaden Alpine Club section, Beppo Maltan, and mountain rescue regional manager Nik Burger agree. And yet the mountain rescue service at the Watzmann always has to come to the aid of beginners, like two young people from Munich last year.
Both Maltan and Burger attribute this to the fact that the forums and portals on the Internet are full of clips and tips that talk a lot about unique experiences and hardly any dangers. The necessary self-assessment is often lacking. Maltan is horrified by some of the inquiries at the DAV’s “Alpine Information” in Berchtesgaden – and at least people who get information in advance get in touch there. “In the long run we have to come up with something.”
Burger, on the other hand, is by no means someone who would speak out against the recklessness of beginners. He also criticizes the fact that gymnastics on the Watzmann has “become an absolute fad”. But Burger also shapes and supports the mountain rescue service’s line of not judging those who need to be rescued. For an experienced all-round alpinist, it’s normal to be out and about in winter, says Burger. But he can’t think of anything else to do for an afternoon tour in sweatpants and sneakers.