Tree slowed down a fall from a via ferrata

A 33-year-old from the Freistadt district was on a via ferrata in the municipality of St. Leonhard near Freistadt with his 17-year-old friend.

While the 17-year-old secured him, the older one wanted to climb another stage. However, the 17-year-old noticed a safety error on the part of the climber and drew his attention to it. While he was trying to fix the error, he fell – first onto an intermediate plateau about one meter below and then a good 3.5 meters onto a plateau below. A tree prevented him from falling another 15 meters. With the support of other climbers, the man was able to descend to the climbing base, from where he was picked up by the rescue helicopter team and flown to the Kepler University Hospital with injuries of an unspecified degree.