Due to a wrong route in his navigation system, a Dutch motorcyclist in Austria got into serious trouble. The route took him first over a mountain bike path and then over a ski slope. In bad weather he had to spend the night there. He was eventually rescued unharmed on Saturday.
The 41-year-old Dutchman had left Samnaun in the far east of Switzerland on Friday. He wanted to drive to Ischgl, Austria, just on the other side of the border. As the crow flies, those places are about 10 kilometers apart, but by road it is a drive of about 80 kilometers, around the mountains. However, the navigation system offered a route over the mountains and the man decided to take it.
The route first went over a mountain bike path, up to an altitude of 2,800 meters. On the border mountain Palinkopf the weather turned. The man became completely lost in the fog. He drove his motorcycle onto a ski slope, his wheel slipped and he fell. The motorcycle was so badly damaged that the man was unable to continue. Despite the bad weather, he decided to camp near his motorcycle.
When the Dutchman woke up on Saturday morning and the mist still hadn’t lifted, he raised the alarm. As he turned out to be close to a cable car, mountain rescuers were able to find him fairly quickly. His motorcycle has been recovered.
According to the police of the state of Tyrol, the motorcyclist was not injured, but it was clear that he was at the end of his rope.
