11th Austria Ski Touring Festival

The entrepreneur from Kufstein has been Regional Director of the Tyrolean Mountain Rescue Service since 2014. Safety is, of course, the top priority. He often finds that people overestimate their own abilities and underestimate the dangers of the great outdoors. As the Tyrolean Mountain Rescue Service, he recommends getting an experienced mountain and ski guide or at least becoming a member of one of the alpine clubs to find out about tour planning, ascent tracks and emergency equipment and to practise using them again and again.

Dr Patrick Nairz has been an avalanche expert in the Tyrolean avalanche warning service for over 20 years and is a well-known face in the world of ski mountaineering. In the event of an avalanche, every second counts. The better prepared the first rescuers are and the quicker buried victims are identified and dug out, the better the chances of survival. The aim is therefore to better prepare winter sports enthusiasts for an emergency. A new avalanche rescue training simulator developed by the Tyrolean Avalanche Service works in combination with VR glasses. Once put on, the user is immersed in the virtual world of the training simulator. This enables realistic rescue drills for avalanche victims.

Klaus Pietersteiner is a geologist, mountain guide and mountain rescuer. He works at the Forestry Group, Office of the Tyrolean Provincial Government, in the Landscape Services Department. He is the contact person for hiking, climbing and via ferrata.