It's Tuesday, March 3, 2015, 5:15 p.m., my cell phone beeps: a text message from the Tyrol control center: "Mission BR St. Sigmund/Sellrain local station, EL A. S., St. Sigmund, missing person Pforzheimer Hütte." I'm sitting in my room at my PC. Now I jump up, stuff some equipment and extra warm clothes into my touring backpack, put on my skins and sprint to the mountain rescue station in my touring boots. In the meantime, I make a phone call to our head of operations. He knows that the cook from our nearest mountain hut has set off alone on a ski tour today and, according to the landlady, has not yet returned.
On the way to the mission, I have to think about the weather of the last few days: strong westerly winds have been raging here and a lot of fresh snow has fallen on a miserable layer of old snow. Under these conditions, an avalanche is the first thing that goes through my mind.
Mountain watch or mountain rescue - a fundamental difference in Austria
The reason why I'm going out that day despite the bad weather: I am a mountain rescuer in Austria. Anyone who is often out and about in the German mountains would probably now call me a "mountain rescuer". What most people don't know: There are two organizations in Austria that are very different. In Austria, the mountain rescue service [Bergrettung] is primarily responsible for terrestrial, alpine rescue operations. Translated, this means: on the ground. Air rescue is provided by the ÖAMTC motorists' club with its Christophorus helicopter fleet and various private providers, who work closely with the mountain rescuers.
From the outside, mountain rescue in Austria is relatively uniform. However, the umbrella organization of mountain rescue is made up of seven groups in the federal states with alpine terrain. The organization is therefore more of a joint "working group" within which the provincial associations operate independently. The "Österreichische Bergrettungsdienst Land Tirol" is therefore an independent, individual association, which is divided into 93 local branches. The local branches are not a separate association and are therefore subject to the provincial association. The rescue techniques used and, above all, the training differ greatly within the federal states. However, they all have the same goal: to rescue missing, injured and even dead people - in some cases also to maintain (climbing) routes and take preventative measures so that accidents do not happen in the first place. There are currently around 4,300 men, 145 women and 65 mountain rescue dogs ready for action in Tyrol.
In contrast, the mountain watch/ mountain ranger service is primarily responsible for nature conservation: mountain ranger monitor nature conservation laws and are involved in the fight against neophytes, for example. Mountain rangers can issue warnings, arrest people, confiscate objects (such as too many collected mushrooms) and impose administrative penalties. The mountain ranger service is a public corporation that is completely independent of the mountain rescue service. In short: Asking someone wearing a green cross with an edelweiss on it on a red and black uniform the question: "Are you a member of the mountain rescue service?" is an absolute no-go in Austria!
On this early evening, a person is missing and every second counts for us mountain rescuers. I can already hear the helicopter at the mountain rescue station. I quickly grab a radio. It's already dusk - not good prospects for a search. I'm the first one ready for action, the helicopter flies me immediately to the rear Gleirschtal valley - without any additional equipment, that can be brought by those who follow. The clock is ticking in the case of an avalanche. The sooner someone is at the scene and can start searching for avalanches, the better. I also have my personal first aid kit in my backpack.
During the flight, the pilot and flight rescuer explain to me where the missing member of staff is thought to be, and then we're already there. The wind is still blowing very strongly from the west. I realize again why I didn't go on a private ski tour today. There are dozens of fresh, huge avalanche cones in the Gleirschtal valley - including in the area of the route where the person we are looking for is suspected to be. The pilot has a hard time landing in the weak, diffuse light, wind and snow. He sets me down on a fresh avalanche cone. There I meet two mountain guides staying at the hut who have set off on foot to provide assistance. I briefly talk to the mountain guides about the area they have already searched and switch my radio from trunk mode (works like a cell phone, needs a radio mast connection for transmission) to direct mode (transmission directly from radio to radio, like a walkie talkie). In Gleirschtal, there is no connection to a radio mast from the "Enge" away, so I will have no reception. Then I start searching the cone with the avalanche transceiver. Shortly afterwards, I am assisted by an avalanche dog handler and his four-legged friend. The helicopter has picked them up directly from home.
Within half an hour, a rescue team of around 20 people is on site with special rescue equipment and Akja. The head of our neighboring local station is also here and takes over the mountain operations management with me because he has much more experience than I do. In the meantime, an alpine police officer has also arrived at the avalanche cone.
The only connection to the outside world is via our radio to the radio at the hut. From there, the landlady can phone the operations control center in the valley. A direct connection is not possible with either a cell phone or a radio. We receive the message that more colleagues are waiting in the valley, but it is 6 p.m. and pitch dark, the helicopters can no longer shuttle and a walk to the search area would take three hours. In addition, the avalanche situation is still tense, there are already far too many people in the area at night and in the storm. However, the risk involved in this mission takes a back seat in our minds, because a human life is at stake. The young man left the hut four hours ago and may have been buried for a long time in the case of an avalanche, but as we all know, hope dies last.
Nobody is forcing us to go on this mission. Unlike the mountain rescue service, the mountain rescue service is not anchored in law and is therefore similar to a sports club, for example. This means that mountain rescuers do not have many rights, but also obligations.
There is no "right" to a rescue in the mountain rescue area - apart from the moral level. Anyone can refuse to go on a mission. Fortunately, this does not happen in practice, on the contrary: as on this day, the team tends to dare too much on most missions, for a variety of psychological reasons: Mission lust, group dynamics like on a joint tour, the awareness that "the faster we get to the top, the more likely the patient will survive".
