Overview

• The group, aged 17 to 19 from Hessen, set out Saturday from Vent toward the Wildspitze via the Breslauer Hütte and Taschachferner intending to bivouac.
• At roughly 3,400 to 3,440 meters they faced about minus six degrees Celsius and called for help around 21:00 when an overnight stay proved impossible.
• Bergrettung Sölden dispatched the night- and winch-capable RK-2 helicopter from Reutte, which had just completed a separate mission in the Wettersteingebirge.
• Pilot Oliver Waldschmidt reported scarce visual references on the glacier and executed a winch insertion followed by a partial skid landing to board the quartet.
• All four were uninjured and flown in one lift to Sölden, where local teams returned them to their hotel, as officials urged earlier starts, glacier-rope use and proper winter bivouac gear.