ÖAV Sektion Britannia in the Wipptal

Not many people know that the British Section of the Austrian Alpine Club - known as the ÖAV Sektion Britannia - is the 10th largest section with over 10,000 members!

The group at the Series Cable Car

Last year a group of senior members spent a week staying at the Hotel zur Rose in Steinach. Their programme was entitled "Gentle Wipptal" and included such highlights as Maria Waldrast, the Truna Hütte, the Franz Senn Hütte and the Naviser Hütte. Their organiser was Allan Hartley, an experienced mountaineer and photographer and holder of the International Mountain Leader Award. He is also the Alpine Representative on the Executive Committee of the Sektion.

The group at the Truna Hut
Photos by Allan Hartley

On one wet day (that was the story of summer 2014) they were walking in the Gschnitztal and called in at the Wienerhof in Trins for lunch. There Allan read the article entitled "Mountain rescue mission of a different kind in Trins" which appeared in last year's Gästezeitung. By chance he also met Bob Mason, who leads for the British company Exodus Travels and who was featured in the article. Allan asked if there was anything else that the mountain rescue team Steinach/Gschnitztal needed. Bob agreed to find out. To cut a long story short, Sektion Britannia agreed to donate €290 to purchase a high powered chargeable drill for use on rescues where it is necessary to fix bolts into rock e.g. rescuing a climber from a wall.

The drill was duly purchased and the mountain rescue team is better equipped to deal with serious incidents.

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