The course of the avalanche rescue operation was incomprehensible to us; here is the chronological sequence of events:
The report of the avalanche reaches us at the hut!
I ( Horst Fankhauser) call the police in Neustift, where the report of the avalanche on the hut approach is confirmed to me!
I immediately take the goods lift down to the Ober Iss Alm in order to drive with the RATRAC to the avalanche debris and prepare good escape routes, as I am aware of the possibility of further avalanches.
When I get an overview of the avalanche from the goods ropeway, I see that the helicopter had landed near the avalanche debris and the debris had been searched! As nobody was present at the avalanche debris any more, I assumed that nobody had been buried!
As a precaution I ask the police whether the operation has been called off and am told that the operation with avalanche dogs and the mountain rescue is ongoing!
When I then ask the LWZ about the status of the operation, I receive the short and curt reply that, for data protection reasons, no information can be given about an operation! So what now? Does data protection really not allow them to say that the operation is over?
It would be desirable not to leave hut keepers so much in the dark. Back when operations were still carried out by the Ministry of the Interior in cooperation with the local mountain rescue, there was no such lack of information!