Two happy endings on the Matterhorn
Air Zermatt flew the first rescue missions of the season on the Matterhorn last week. The first mission was a search flight during the night with an unexpected end. In the other rescue, Air Zermatt rescuers helped two climbers who were in a difficult situation on the summit of the Matterhorn and were successfully evacuated.
The new mountaineering season has begun on the Matterhorn. With consequences for the rescuers of Air Zermatt: On Friday, two Swiss mountaineers climbed the Matterhorn. Shortly below the summit, the two got into a difficult situation and were blocked, but unhurt. On Friday afternoon, Air Zermatt took off for an evacuation together with a rescue specialist. However, due to heavy fog at the summit of the Matterhorn, several evacuation attempts had to be aborted literally at the last second, so that the climbers had to spend the night on the Matterhorn. On Saturday morning, Air Zermatt took off again for an evacuation flight. The two alpinists were flown safely to the base in Zermatt.
Surprising turn of events during night operation on the Matterhorn
Air Zermatt was called to an emergency on the Matterhorn by the Cantonal Valais Rescue Organisation KWRO at around 9.30 pm on Thursday evening. Five mountaineers from France wanted to climb the Matterhorn. Two alpinists of this group abandoned the ascent and returned home. When the two could not reach the rest of the group by phone in the evening, they called the KWRO for help. Air Zermatt started a search flight that night, using searchlights to search the Matterhorn for the missing alpinists. During the search flight, however, this mission took a surprising turn: a police patrol found the missing mountaineers in the Matterhorn Terminal Täsch car park.