Because of the wrong lane in his navigation system, a Dutch motorcyclist in Austria got into a serious problem. The road led 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, on the other side of the border. As the crow flies, those places are about 10 kilometers, but by land, the distance by car is about 80 kilometers, around the mountains. However, the navigation system provided a route over the mountains and the man decided to take it.
The track first went over a mountain bike path of 2,800 metres. The weather turned on the mountain border Pallenkopf. The man was completely lost in the mist. He drove his motorcycle down a ski slope, his wheel slipped and he fell. The motorcycle was so badly damaged that the man could not continue. Despite the bad weather, he decided to camp near his motorbike.
When the Dutchman woke up on Saturday morning and the fog still did not clear, he sounded the alarm. When it turned out that it was close to the cable car, rescuers in the mountains were able to find it fairly quickly. His motorcycle was recovered.
According to the Tyrol State Police, the motorcyclist was unhurt, but it turned out that he was at the end of his rope.