On the north side of the Kramer mountain, the nights are icy cold at this time of year, with temperatures often dropping below freezing. A 58-year-old woman from the Starnberg district endured three nights in the cold, severely injured. She had fallen on Monday and remained trapped in a steep water gully, unable to make an emergency call. It wasn’t until Thursday that her family reported her missing. The Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue team immediately launched a large-scale operation with support from the police.
Five Teams Search for Missing Woman in Bavaria – Found by “Sheer Coincidence”
Tim Bukenberger coordinated the operation from the valley. “We knew the probability was not high of finding the woman alive after three nights with sub-zero temperatures,” he said. Compounding the challenge, the rescuers were faced with a massive search area containing numerous steep slopes. “We only had one clue as to where the woman had been,” the operations manager reported. A total of five search teams were deployed around the summit of the Katzenkopf. One team started just 200 meters from the gully where the injured woman was lying. However, she was ultimately found by a different mountain rescuer. “A sheer coincidence,” said Tim Bukenberger. “The odds were about the same as winning the lottery.”
The rescue crews had combed numerous climbing paths. One of the rescuers finally spotted the woman in a gully away from the hiking trails. She was still conscious. With severe injuries to her arms and legs and suffering from severe hypothermia, she was transported to a hospital.
The 58-year-old had been traveling alone in the Kramer mountain range. The mountain tour above Garmisch-Partenkirchen is popular – but not for beginners. The ascent to the summit covers nearly 1,200 meters in elevation. The terrain is crisscrossed with many steep paths. The operations manager reported that the woman had been well-equipped for this tour.
She also apparently had experience; according to her family, she had frequently traveled in the area. “She was very lucky that we found her,” said Tim Bukenberger. He emphasized that in such a vast area, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Yet, operations like this are the best motivation for him and his colleagues to never leave any stone unturned – even when the chances of rescue are slim. Sometimes, you do hit the jackpot.
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