The 30-year-old from the Liezen district had been to the Wurzeralm with a 43-year-old friend. After the ascent via the Hintersteineralm and a visit to the hut, they began the descent. The 30-year-old lost a shoe sole and therefore decided to hike down to the valley via the supposedly easier path over the ski slope.
His companion got off at dusk and drove his car to the valley station of the Wurzeralm funicular. There he waited for his friend. When this did not come, the 43-year-old finally made an emergency call around 7:10 p.m. 25 mountain rescuers, the piste service of the mountain railways and the alpine police went in search of the 30-year-old snowshoe hiker. An experienced mountain rescuer noticed footprints in the snow, with one shoe missing the sole.
The forces were able to follow the tracks until just before the B138, the Pyhrnpass road. Therefore, they assumed that the missing person was no longer in the alpine terrain. So they continued to search along the street, where they came across a restaurant. There the drunk 30-year-old could be identified by his friend. The man stated that he had walked the long way from the Pyhrn Pass to there.
The operation ended around 10 p.m. The snowshoe hiker will probably have to pay for the costs of the search operation himself, since there is no insurance cover. An hour’s use of mountain rescue costs 460 euros – so the man has to pay a total of around 1380 euros. The man’s 43-year-old companion is expected to be reported because he was still driving the car with 0.7 per mille.
