After a 37-week course, with 1,522 hard hours of training in summer and winter, 13 new army mountain guides were appointed in Saalfelden a few days ago.
Austrian, German, Swedish, Dutch and British participants successfully completed the fourth mountain guide course organized jointly by the Austrian Armed Forces and the German Bundeswehr.
The Mountain Combat Center in Saalfelden was responsible for planning and running the course in coordination with the Mountain and Winter Combat Training Base in Mittenwald, Bavaria. The course participants have spent almost a year performing at their best physically and mentally – on rock, ice and snow. Their task now is to support their commanders in the planning and execution of operations in the mountains. The 40th anniversary of the Austrian Army Mountain Guides Association was celebrated at the same time as the appointment of the new Army Mountain Guides. The purpose of the association is to safeguard the interests of army mountain guides and to promote alpinism, to exchange experiences with service and civilian alpine organizations and institutions at home and abroad and to participate in measures to prevent alpine accidents and in the design of alpine rescue facilities.
