Polish mountain rescuers have appealed to people to refrain from hiking in the mountains due to high-risk weather conditions, as avalanche hazards have been announced in various parts of the country. Many tourists, however, have ignored the warnings.
During the last weekend alone, the Mountain Volunteer Rescue Service (GOPR) from the Beskid mountain range in south and south-east Poland carried out 18 search and rescue operations, helping 22 people. Almost 190 rescuers took part in the operations.
“Each of these [operations] took place in extremely difficult weather conditions. Many tourists disregarded announcements and warnings,” they said.
In the Karkonosze mountains in southwest Poland, a local rescue group (GOPR Karkonosze) saved two men who took to the trail in tracksuits, despite avalanche danger and freezing temperatures.
They published images of the difficult rescue operation over the weekend. The pictures show the face of one of the men covered with icicles, while a video shows the men apparently frozen and unable to move.
“On Friday we carried out a rescue operation in the area of the Burnt Watchtower [Spalona Strażnica] until late at night. We evacuated 2 tourists from the mountains in very difficult conditions,” reported GOPR Karkonosze on social media.
“One of the men was very weak, severely hypothermic and unable to move on his own. Thanks to the help of a hiker they met on the trail, they made it to safety,” the rescue service said, adding that the tourist with hypothermia was transferred to the emergency unit.
“Even after warming the man up while transporting him to the emergency service, his body temperature was still at 32⁰C.”
Rescuers have warned that conditions in the mountains remain very difficult and that hiking may currently be dangerous even for the experienced and well-prepared. Over the weekend, authorities in both the Karkonosze and Beskid regions declared an avalanche danger of three on a scale of five.
Meanwhile, in Poland’s highest mountain range, the Tatra mountains, the fourth level of avalanche danger has been declared, prompting the administration of the Tatra National Park to close off the entire area to tourists until further notice. According to its representative, it is the first such instance in the park’s history.
“It has not yet happened that the entire park has been closed due to avalanche danger,” said Tomasz Zając from the Tatra National Park during an interview on TVN24. “We are at the fourth [level of danger], which is in practice the highest danger level in the Tatra conditions.”
Although the universalised avalanche danger scale consists of five levels, the last, fifth level does not apply in practice in the Polish mountains. In order for it to be declared, avalanches would have to threaten human habitats, which is not usually possible in the Tatra mountains.
Access to the park – including to hiking trails, ski slopes and cross-country skiing trails – was closed at the request of the Tatra Volunteer Rescue Service (TOPR).
On Monday, as weather conditions improved, the park authorities reported that a decision would be made later that day on whether to open some trails. “Until then, please be patient and refrain from any mountain hiking,” said the park, as quoted by the Polish state news agency.
Main photo credit: GOPR Beskidy
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
