Lift Companies and Heli Rescue

CardinalJ

Question for anyone in the know. Do lift companies get a cut (officially or otherwise) of any of the fee the Heli Rescue companies charge for medivac off the slopes?

Noticed a huge rise in choppers over the last few years.

Saw two helis attend one crash involving two people last week. To be fair it looked really, really bad and there was a lot of red snow in the location the next day, but it still seemed a bit odd.

Anyone who's ever been to St Anton would notice the near constant chopper sound.

zagmund

I saw/heard very little in Kitzbuhel this year. I saw a few flying overhead (but they could have been doing anything) and only saw one on the ground - all the gawkers checking it out blocked up the piste as it was at a narrow point. When I approached I thought the piste was officially blocked, but in fact it was just that everyone had stopped to look at the helicopter. I also noticed less of the "stretcher between two rescuers" things than usual. Normally I would expect to see a few of them over the week but saw none this year.

z

sassyj

Was in St Anton 22/02 - 01/03 saw 2 choppers- one with someone hanging out of it being lifted out. I found out afterwards it was a young British guy who died, fell on a slope, flew off the side and hit the arm of a snow cannon

CardinalJ

Cheers.

On my two visits to St Anton I noticed an amazing amy of choppers. Obv a big resort but still a lot. Also remember some amazing stat about how many people a fracture clinic sees there every day. Was in or around 20 if I recall.

fannymagee

Austria is very strict about helicopter use- they've banned helisking for the most part, so they don't dispatch choppers lightly. Check out http://www.oeamtc.at/?id=2500,,,11009