Image: Police
A Belgian couple had to be rescued from mountain distress on Tuesday on the Hoher Donnerkogel in Gosau (district of Gmunden). At around 10.30 a.m., the 29 and 30-year-old Belgians climbed the Intersport via ferrata. Because they had already seen climbers on the “Giant Ladder” before, they decided to get on the via ferrata as well.
After about 5 hours of climbing, they had completed about a third of the via ferrata and came to a large snow field – there was no longer a steel cable to belay on the surface. Since they thought that the rope would come to the surface again after a few meters and that the snow would lessen, they climbed further, uphill through snow that was partly deep below the thighs.
When they noticed the hopelessness of their situation, they had already climbed so far over the snow that it was no longer safe to turn back. Therefore, the two climbers informed the emergency services via the European emergency call. The alerted helicopter of the air traffic police “Libelle Oberösterreich” rescued the couple by thawing and brought the two unharmed to the valley.
Source: Nachrichten
