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The story of two ALPINE

colleagues

with an adventurous spirit

Ruth Walch is an Alpine employee in Tyrol who knows what it’s like to struggle to rea-ch an objective despite the diffculties. She crossed the second largest sand desert tin the world, the Taklamakan desert in wes-tern China, experiencing temperatures of up to 60 degrees and zero humidity, leaving behind the comforts of modern life. They took just the right amount of water and food.

In three and one half weeks Ruth and her group walked 250 kilometers over the desert sand. Despite the hardships, she was able to bring back very positive and inspiring impressions for her professional

Ruth Walch and Hans Lechner are two indefati-gable adventurers who love the mountains, facing great challenges and aspirations both of whom never give up. Their secret is to always have a

very positive atitude.

as well as for her personal life; for exam-ple, the certainty that almost any goal can be achieved with mental strength and the good thing about a team whose members fght for the same objective to try to make it a reality.

Hans Lechner, the director of Information Technologies at ALPINE is an active mem-ber of the Austrian mountain rescue team in his free time. He patrols the slope fve days every winter and performs other tasks during the week-ends.

The wounded are rescued with sleds or helicopters. Up to seven people seriously injured are treated each day. Most of the emergencies, such as rescuing avalanche victims and the search and rescue for mis-sing people, occur in the winter months.

The most dangerous mission that he has had to face was the rescue of three snow-boarders in Flachau (Austria). They had to be brought down with ropes down frozen streams. The rescue team is trained in mountain safety and in high-performance mountain climbing. They also attend frst-aid courses and also a one-week training course for work on rocks, ice, and winter conditions plus a three-day course in frst aid. Three-hour training exercises are also performed once a month.