What should you do in an emergency?

Safety in the mountains is absolutely essential. Time and again, mountaineers are caught unawares by a sudden thunderstorm or other forces of nature, or they injure themselves and are suddenly faced with the question: “What is the Alpine emergency number?”

If you have no mobile signal or are in a dead zone, you cannot make an emergency call. Move to a better location and regularly dial the speed dial number 112. With the European emergency number, you have access to any available network if you enter 112 instead of your PIN code after switching on your phone, or if you make an emergency call using the SOS emergency function.

• Dial the emergency number – don’t hesitate!
• Give the location of the accident, the number of injured people, a description of what happened, and a number where you can be contacted.
• Answer the emergency operator’s questions – stay calm.
• The emergency services will be alerted during the call.
• The emergency operator will give you instructions on how you can help!
• Stay on the phone.

Smartphone users should install the free ‘SOS-EU-ALP’ app BEFORE setting off on their trip and carry out a test run. It helps you send an emergency call whilst simultaneously transmitting your location via GPS data, along with the time the GPS signal was received, the smartphone’s battery level, altitude and contact details.