Intensive Easter weekend for Air Zermatt and Air-Glaciers
The beautiful weather and excellent conditions in the ski destinations drew large numbers of people onto the slopes and into the mountains over the Easter weekend. As a result, the rescue teams of Air Zermatt and Air-Glaciers were kept very busy. From Good Friday to Easter Monday, the Valais air rescue teams were called out to a total of 121 helicopter missions.
From Good Friday to Easter Monday, Air Zermatt was called out to a total of 47 rescue missions. Air-Glaciers completed 74 helicopter missions, 54 of them in Valais and 20 on the Bernese side. The majority of the missions involved skiing accidents.
In addition, Air Zermatt was alerted to evacuate exhausted mountaineers on the Dufourspitze and the Adlerhorn. On Easter Monday, the crews also rescued hikers who had fallen into crevasses on the Adlerhorn and in the Riederalp area. In each case, the patients were flown to hospital with minor injuries.
On the Bernese side, Air-Glaciers was also called out to two avalanche missions over the weekend that resulted in fatalities. In contrast, avalanches in La Maya and Lourtier caused no injuries.
In addition to the helicopter missions, Air Zermatt’s ambulance service was also kept very busy: from Good Friday to Easter Monday, it was deployed 25 times.
Compared with the previous year, the high number of missions is particularly striking. Over the Easter holidays in 2025, significantly fewer rescue flights were required. Due to the weather conditions, only a fraction of this year’s missions were necessary at that time. By contrast, the sunny and stable weather this year led to a marked increase in the number of people in the mountains and, accordingly, in rescue missions.
