Has Being Lost While High-Altitude Mountaineering Become Less Frequent? A Retrospective Analysis from the Swiss Alps

High-altitude mountaineering is becoming more popular. Despite technical developments such as global positioning systems, mountaineers still lose their way. This study aimed to analyze characteristics of alpinists that lost their way while high-altitude mountaineering in Switzerland.

Data from the central registry of the Swiss Alpine Club between 2009 and 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Changes in the number of cases and severity of injuries over time were examined using simple linear regression models. Descriptive analyses were performed for age, time of emergency occurrence, and factors associated with being lost. The Mann-Whitney U test assessed between-sex comparisons.

Of the 4596 emergency cases during the observation period, 275 cases (5.9%) were due to being lost (76.4% male). A mean of 22.9 ± 9.6 cases per year was detected. The number of cases did not change significantly over time. Similarly, this was the case for the NACA-Score (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Score) with the majority of mountaineers remaining uninjured (77.8%). The median age was 42 (35-54) years for the full sample and 45 (35-56) years and 40 (33-48) years for males and females, respectively. Fog or weather changes, exhaustion, and inadequate tour planning (time and darkness) were frequently documented by rescuers as perceived reasons for being lost. Regarding the time of emergency occurrence, three peaks were detected, around 10 am, 5 pm, and 8 pm.

Our findings show that the number of emergencies due to being lost was stable during the 12-year period. Furthermore, we presented factors that might be associated with losing one's way during mountaineering. These results may form an important basis for future studies determining risk factors for being lost and the prevention of such emergencies.