On the evening of Sunday, June 29th, at 8:00 p.m., the Börzsöny Mountain Rescue Service received an alert from the Pest County Police Headquarters.
They reported that a young man from Budapest had gone missing in the northern part of the Börzsöny Mountains, near Kemence, and requested assistance with the rescue.
According to the report, the hiker’s last known position was still accessible via GPS data.
He appeared to be somewhere near Vad-tető, on a steep, hard-to-reach mountainside.
Several members of the Börzsöny Mountain Rescue Service immediately set out: one responder from Letkés, and three more rescuers from Szokolya.
The team met up with police units at the Fekete-völgy Guesthouse near the village of Kemence.
From there, due to nightfall and the extreme terrain, the search could only continue on foot.
The rescue took place under particularly difficult conditions.
Starting from the provided GPS coordinates, the mountain rescuers made their way across steep, rocky slopes covered in dense vegetation, searching for the missing person using headlamps.
Finally, at 10:15 p.m., they located the young man on an extremely hard-to-reach hillside, where he was waiting exhausted and dehydrated, but fortunately uninjured.
As he explained, he had set off from the Fekete-völgy Guesthouse at 3:00 p.m., heading toward the Hollókő peak.
Along the way, however, he strayed from the trail and gradually ended up in increasingly difficult and dangerous terrain.
When he realized he was lost, he didn’t dare move any further, as he was surrounded on all sides by steep, slippery hillsides, and by that time darkness had also fallen.
His water supply had run out, he was unable to orient himself, and his phone had only limited signal.
That was when he decided to call for help.
The mountain rescuers did not administer first aid, as his condition did not require it, but they provided him with water and energy supplies, then escorted him on foot back to the Fekete-völgy Guesthouse.
There, they were met by a unit from the Pest County Search and Rescue Service, which had been dispatched to the scene in the meantime.
They took over further care and arranged for the young man's safe transport to the nearest public transportation connection.
Proper clothing, drinking water, a map, and prior knowledge of the planned route and schedule are essential for a safe hike.
The Börzsöny Mountain Rescue Service would like to take this opportunity to thank the Police and the Pest County Search and Rescue Service for their cooperation.
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