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After 11 Days Underground, Injured German Researcher Is Pulled From Alpine Cave Underground Ordeal Ends for German Researcher Injured in Deep Alpine Cave
(about 5 hours later)
BERCHTESGADEN, Germany — International rescuers pulled an injured German researcher up the final 590 feet of a vertical shaft in Germany’s deepest cavern early Thursday, bringing an end to days of painstaking efforts to bring him to the surface. BERCHTESGADEN, Germany — Johann Westhauser, a 52-year-old physicist who was struck in the head by a rock 3,766 feet below the surface in Germany’s deepest cavern 11 days ago, had only one wish as he was finally hoisted to the surface on Thursday — to personally thank all 728 people responsible for his rescue.
The researcher, Johann Westhauser, 52, had been exploring the depths of an alpine cavern near Berchtesgaden, in southern Germany, known as the Riesending, or Big Thing, on June 8 when he was struck on the head by a rock about 3,280 feet below the surface of Untersberg Mountain. A fellow explorer was able to journey back to the surface 12 hours later to alert the authorities, who launched a complex international rescue effort. “It will keep me busy,” he told Dr. Nico Petterich, a physician with Bavaria’s Mountain Rescue Services, at the end of his ordeal.
After 11 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes underground, Mr. Westhauser, strapped protectively to a stretcher, emerged. A chain of rescue workers passed him hand to hand along the final 300 feet to the surface, where he was quickly evaluated by waiting doctors before being flown by helicopter to a hospital. A seasoned cave explorer himself, Mr. Westhauser was no stranger to the inky darkness of the cavern that he, as part of a team, had discovered in the mid-1990s and helped to map. Known as the Riesending, or Big Thing, the cave stretches more than 12 miles, cutting vertically and horizontally into a mountain near the Austrian border, not far from where Adolf Hitler had his alpine residence, the Berghof. It is known among even the most experienced cavers as challenging.
“We have achieved our goal,” Norbert Heiland, the head of Bavaria’s Mountain Rescue Service, told reporters at a news conference held in the Berchtesgaden fire station. “We have also made rescue history, which was only possible through international cooperation.” As luck would have it, Mr. Westhauser, despite wearing a helmet, was injured in the deepest part of the cave on June 8 while exploring with two others. One of them made the arduous, 12-hour journey back to the surface to alert the authorities.
The complexity and difficult of the effort was apparent from the start. The rocky, scrub-scarred surface of the nearly 6,000-foot mountain, where the cavern’s narrow mouth opens in a vertical drop known as “the chimney,” initially made it impossible for a helicopter to land. Supplies and equipment had to be lowered by cable until a landing pad could be cleared. The top priority of the rescue effort was ensuring that Mr. Westhauser was stable. He was wrapped in protective padding and strapped in a fiberglass toboggan like those used to take injured skiers off the mountain. Then began the tortuous process of hauling the toboggan up from the depths, winching it up vertical shafts and carrying it through a labyrinth of passages so narrow that Mr. Westhauser’s nose was nearly scraped by the limestone walls.
But solidarity among the men and women who ensure the safety of those who explore the Alps runs strong, and within days of Mr. Westhauser’s accident, hundreds of rescue workers began arriving from Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia. Many were spelunkers themselves, a tight-knit group of expert climbers who descend into the inner depths of mountains. “You had to be not only experienced in climbing and rappelling, but able to raise yourself on ropes anchored to the walls,” said Christian Lüthi, a caver from Switzerland. “It is difficult for the best trained individual, but to maneuver the narrow passages with a patient bound to a stretcher involved meticulous planning.”
“For years our solidarity has grown,” said Roberto Corti, of the Italian National Society of Alpine Speleology. “We have worked together and gotten to know each other. Today we have the proof that this is the right way to work. We overcame language and technical barriers and succeeded in completing a difficult operation.” After 11 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, Mr. Westhauser emerged and the toboggan was transferred hand to hand the final 100 yards to a waiting helicopter that took him to an undisclosed hospital, accompanied by Dr. Petterich.
By the end, 202 workers descended into the cave to help in an effort that involved carrying him, strapped in a padded fiberglass stretcher by hand and winching him by pulley through the inky darkness of the cavern, deep in the mountain near Germany’s border with Austria. “Our patient has been admitted to the clinic. We have achieved our goal,” Norbert Heiland, the head of the Mountain Rescue Service told reporters at a news conference held in the fire station in nearby Berchtesgaden. “We have also made rescue history, which was only possible through international cooperation.”
“They really worked hard, they brought their best,” said Klemens Reindl, who led the effort, which involved 728 people over all. “The best cavern rescue teams gathered here.” The complexity of the rescue effort was apparent from the start. The rocky, scrub-scarred surface of the nearly 6,000 foot mountain, where the cavern’s narrow mouth opens in a 590-foot vertical drop known as “the chimney,” initially made it impossible for a helicopter to land. Supplies and equipment had to be lowered by cable until a landing pad could be cleared.
Five bivouacs equipped with sleeping bags, food and other supplies were set up at intervals inside the cavern, which stretches in an L-shape below the rocky surface. Within days rescue workers began arriving from Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia. Many were cavers themselves, a tight-knit group of expert climbers who regularly descend into the inner depths of the Alps.
“A difficult rescue effort like this can always fail,” Mr. Reindl said. “It is essential that we work together.” Mr. Westhauser remained conscious and able to communicate with his rescuers throughout the arduous ascent to the surface. “For years our solidarity has grown. We have worked together and gotten to know each other,” said Roberto Corti of the Italian National Society of Alpine Speleology. “Today, we have the proof that this is the right way to work.”
Among the biggest challenges rescuers faced were trying to pace themselves and not strain Mr. Westhauser, Mr. Reindl said. They had to guess how long it would take to reach each bivouac along the way and pace themselves accordingly. By the end, 202 workers had descended into the cave to carry out an effort that involved at times carrying a stretcher by hand and lifting it manually with pulleys through the darkness of the cavern. Although immobilized, Mr. Westhauser had one hand free that he used to guide the toboggan through narrow passages.
After reaching the final bivouac, Mr. Reindl said, they stopped to rest and refocus, knowing that calm discipline was essential to the task. Although Mr. Westhauser had been accompanied by a doctor from Italy, who is also a mountain climber, in the final days of his rescue, the rescuers feared that a sudden burst of euphoria after the tension of the journey could endanger his health. “They really worked hard, they brought their best,” said Klemens Reindl, of the Mountain Rescue Services, who led the effort. “The best cavern rescue teams gathered here.”
Late Thursday morning, Mr. Westhauser, his eyes covered with protective glasses to shield them from the sunlight, was lifted to safety through the final, narrow shaft to the surface. He was treated by teams of doctors who set up an emergency medical station in containers near the mouth of the cave, then taken to the hospital. Five bivouacs equipped with sleeping bags, food and other supplies were set up at intervals inside the cavern, which was illuminated by rescuers’ headlamps reflecting on the limestone walls.
The Riesending cave, north of Berchtesgaden, stretches more than 12 miles, cutting vertically and horizontally into the mountain. Mr. Westhauser, who works in the physics department of the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, is one of Germany’s most experienced cave researchers. He has explored the Riesending cave several times since he discovered it in the mid-1990s as part of a team, and helped map it in 2002. “A difficult rescue effort like this can always fail. It is essential that we work together,” Mr. Reindl said of the risk. He praised Mr. Westhauser, who remained conscious and able to communicate with his rescuers throughout the rescue.
“The incredible mental strength of our patient helped us to persevere,” Mr. Reindl said.
Sabine Zimmerebner, a kindergarten teacher and cave explorer from Austria who knew Mr. Westhauser before the accident, was with the first teams to descend to the cave and worked at keeping up her friend’s sprits, holding his hand and telling him jokes.
After reaching the final bivouac, Mr. Reindl said, they stopped to rest and refocus, knowing that calm discipline was essential to bringing Mr. Westhauser up the last vertical of the “chimney” and finally to the surface. Although he had been accompanied by a doctor from Italy who is also a mountain climber throughout the final days of his ascent, there was a fear that a sudden burst of euphoria after the tension of the journey could endanger his health.
But once word spread that Mr. Westhauser, his eyes covered with protective glasses to shield them from the sunlight, had been rescued, Ms. Zimmerebner said the elation hit.
“When we heard that it was successful it we fell into one another’s’ arms, the men cried,” she said. “We were all overjoyed.”