Didn't know people were looking for her
Kerstin Langenberg was sound asleep in a mountain hut this morning when six rescue team members barged in. mbl.is/Árni Sæberg
Kerstin Langenberg, a German-born woman in her thirties who was on a trek around Mýrdalssjökull on cross-country skis had no idea that rescue teams had been searching for her since Saturday. She was woken up at the Hvanngil mountain hut at six a.m this morning by six rescue team members. "I was asleep and suddenly six rescue guys turned up, smiling and rather funny, I was a little surprised," says Kerstin in an interview with mbl.is. The rescue team, along with Langenberg, arrived at Hella in south Iceland at around ten o'clock this morning.
Langenberg explains that the trip was scheduled to take between nine to twelve days and that she had selected a route where mountain huts were every 15- 20 kilometres. She was carrying a tent which she was going to use when weather permitted.
"I knew that the weather was going to be pretty bad this weekend so I carried an emergency signal device." The so-called SPOT device sends a text message with details of the wearer's location every 12 hours. Langenberg directed the text messages to a friend and told her that if she hadn't received a text message for three times in a row this meant that she needed assistance. Langenberg says that obviously the device was faulty as she believed that it had sent messages all along.
When the weather started turning for the worse, she decided to wait at the Hvanngil mountain hut until the storm was over. She explains that her stay at the hut was quite cozy while the wind raged outside. This is not the first trek that Langberg undertakes in difficult conditions. She has lived in Iceland for six years and has worked in mountain lodges. "I've been on trips like this both in Iceland and in Svalbard and this is the first time that my gps equipment fails. I will probably need to take a satellite phone with me next time. I'm really sorry that a hundred people were looking for me during this awful weather. It really was crazy weather." She admits to being a little ashamed that rescue teams were looking for her when she wasn't in trouble at all. "I'm so grateful to them and I'm very sorry."
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