Missing in Almtal: No clues from the air

Helga W. planned the hike. Like almost all of the 40 hikes she and her husband undertake each year. They don’t always reach their destination together. This is more a matter of agreement than negligence. Because the 62-year-old is generally faster on the move and his 64-year-old wife has no problem with him waiting for her at the agreed meeting points.

Last Sunday, the Welser Hut, located 1,740 meters above sea level on the north side of the Grosser Priel, was the meeting point. But Helga W. didn’t arrive there later, but probably never. The police, mountain rescue service and fire service have been trying to find out where she is for days – the OÖN has reported in detail. They are tirelessly searching for the woman from Waldingen (Urfahr-Umgebung district). But there are no clues.

• Read also: “Needle in a haystack”: Search for Waldingerin (64) in Almtal continues

The only thing that is certain is that she set off from the Almtalerhaus in the Hetzau towards the Welserhütte. It is a route of around seven kilometres that begins leisurely on a forest road and only gets steeper at the so-called “Hans-Pumberger-Band”. This band and the “Wiesinger-Eck” that follows it, over which a ladder leads, are the places where there is a risk of falling. It is precisely there that the mountain rescue team and the alpine police have turned over every stone. “I think this area has been searched more thoroughly than ever before,” says Bernhard Magritzer, head of the Gmunden Alpine Task Force. It seems almost impossible that Helga W. fell there.

Major search planned for Saturday

There is no evidence from eyewitnesses that she climbed further towards the Welser Hut. Hikers did come forward claiming to have seen Helga W., but unfortunately the reports turned out to be false.

The 64-year-old’s husband also climbed back down into the valley on Sunday, together with the Welserhütte hut warden, and searched the entire route for his wife – in vain. Search operations on Monday and Tuesday also yielded no results.

On Wednesday, the police continued the search with a helicopter and the so-called “Recco system” in the Hetzau area. This missing person tracking system uses radio signals which are reflected back by reflectors attached to clothing or equipment. This search operation has also so far been unsuccessful.

Another major search is planned for Saturday, together with the surrounding mountain rescue teams. “So far we can only speculate about what happened. And speculation doesn’t get us any further,” says Magritzer.