The numbers first

If you are reading this in an emergency, call now and read later:

  • 112 — the single European emergency number. France, Italy, Austria — and it works in and around Switzerland. Free of charge, from fixed and mobile phones, for ambulance, fire brigade or police; in the Alps it is the universal fallback that routes to mountain rescue dispatch.
  • 911 — USA and Canada.
  • 1414 — Switzerland (Rega, answered 24 hours a day); from abroad +41 333 333 333.
  • 140 — Austria's alpine emergency number (Alpinnotruf). In Vorarlberg, alpine alarms run via 144; 112 always works.
  • 112 or 118 — Italy. Dial 112 where the single emergency number (NUE) is active — which now includes most Alpine regions — otherwise 118, and ask the operator to activate mountain rescue (CNSAS).
  • +33 (0)4 50 53 16 89 — the PGHM Chamonix direct line. The French state's own instruction is to call 112 or 17 first and treat this as the secondary route; France also takes emergency SMS on 114 for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.

Two North American additions worth writing down before a Rockies trip: Parks Canada, alongside 911, runs its own 24/7 emergency dispatch for the mountain parks — 1-877-852-3100 (Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, Waterton on 1-888-927-3367; Jasper on 780-852-6155). Every number above was verified against an official government or rescue-organization page, never a roundup.

Sources: European Commission — 112; Rega; Bergrettung Österreich; BMI Alpinpolizei (PDF); CNSAS; Soccorso Alpino Trentino; Annuaire de l'administration — PGHM Chamonix; Parks Canada.

What to say when they answer

The rescue services publish the same call script on both sides of the Alps. Give, in order:

  1. Where — exact location, with coordinates and altitude if you have them.
  2. What happened, and when.
  3. How many people are injured, and their condition: consciousness, breathing, bleeding.
  4. Weather at the site — visibility, wind, precipitation — plus flight obstacles for a helicopter, such as cables and lift wires.
  5. Who you are, and a callback number.

Then stay reachable: the operations centre may need to call you back to guide the helicopter in. The US National Park Service's climbing guidance asks for the same package: "Be prepared to tell the dispatcher the nature of the injury, number in your party, rock formation, climbing route name, nearest landmark and meeting place."

Sources: Bergrettung Südtirol; Aiut Alpin Dolomites (PDF); Bergrettung Österreich; NPS — Climbing: staying safe.

No signal: restart the phone, then look up

The 112 trick. If your phone shows no signal from your own network, Austria's rescue services teach a specific move: restart the phone and, instead of entering the SIM PIN, dial 112 — the call will go out over any available network, not just your provider's.

iPhone satellite SOS. Emergency SOS via satellite works with iPhone 14 or later (all models) where there is no cell coverage at all, provided you have open sky. Availability includes France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy, as well as the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, Japan and Mexico, with different iOS minimums by country (US/Canada 16.1+, France 16.2+, Austria/Italy/Switzerland 16.4+). Apple's terms say free for two years after activation; the free period has been repeatedly extended and no post-free pricing has ever been announced — so the honest phrasing is currently free.

Garmin inReach. Dedicated satellite communicators send SOS over the Iridium constellation — "the world's largest commercial satellite constellation", which is what lets inReach work globally — to Garmin Response, a 24/7 staffed emergency-coordination centre operating since 2007. Two conditions attach: an active subscription is mandatory for SOS, and Garmin states plainly that "an inReach subscription does not include additional insurance coverage or cover any possible costs incurred from an emergency response."

The Rega app (free) transmits the caller's coordinates directly to Rega's operations centre — worth installing before any Swiss trip.

Hold on to the asymmetry in all of this: satellite SOS summons rescue. It does not pay for it. The paying part is the last two sections of this article.

Sources: Bergrettung Österreich; Apple Support; Garmin Response; Garmin — inReach technology; Garmin — Interactive SOS; Rega app.

No phone at all: the alpine distress signal

The international alpine distress signal, as taught by the Austrian and South Tyrolean mountain rescue services: a visible or audible signal six times per minute — one every 10 seconds — then one minute's pause, then repeat. Whistle, headlamp, mirror flash, shout: the medium doesn't matter, the rhythm does. The answer "help is coming" is three signals per minute (one every 20 seconds), with a one-minute pause.

When the helicopter appears, your arms are the radio: both arms raised in a Y means "Yes — we need help, land here." One arm up, one arm down (an N shape) means "No — no help needed." Getting this wrong wastes a mission or waves off your own rescue.

Sources: Bergrettung Salzburg — Alpines Notfallsignal; Bergrettung Südtirol.

Who pays: free rescue is a French anomaly

The assumption that mountain rescue is free travels badly. Country by country, verified against official sources:

France — free. A 2025 Senate written question and the government's answer confirm "la gratuité des secours" for publicly provided rescue. The one exception: communes may bill rescue linked to alpine and cross-country skiing — ski pistes, nordic sites and the ski domain only. Off-piste and mountain-terrain rescue by the PGHM or CRS is free to the victim.

US national parks — not routinely billed. The National Park Service pays for search and rescue from its operating funds, with larger operations covered by the National SAR account.

Switzerland — billed. Rega's own words: "As a rule, the persons who were rescued, or their insurer, pays." A helicopter mission averages about CHF 4,500. Rega can waive the costs for its patrons — in accordance with the conditions of patronage, if the insurer is not required to pay — and it receives no state subsidies; it runs on donations. Billed with a conditional waiver is not the same thing as free.

Austria — billed by law. Bergrettung Vorarlberg quotes §131(4) ASVG: social insurance explicitly does not cover recovery costs for accidents in sport and tourism, and operations "can quickly amount to several thousand euros." That is why the Bergrettung's own supporter membership (from about EUR 36 a year, covering rescue costs up to EUR 25,000 per person) is the norm in Austria, not a luxury.

Italy — varies by region, and uninjured callers are charged. The one region with a fully verified official tariff is Trentino: a genuine medical emergency costs a EUR 36.15 ticket; an uninjured person recovered from hostile terrain without hospital transfer pays a fixed EUR 750; a medically inappropriate helicopter call is billed at full cost — EUR 98-140 per minute of flight. Other regions run different schemes we could not verify against official pages, so treat Trentino as a worked example of the principle, not as the national price list.

Sources: Sénat — question écrite n° 03383 (2025); NPS Aviation Program FAQ; Rega — questions and answers; Bergrettung Vorarlberg; Bergrettung Salzburg — FAQs; ASUIT Trentino.

The EUR 36-a-year answer

Alpine club membership doubles as rescue insurance, and it is the single highest-leverage purchase in trekking:

  • The Austrian Alpenverein's "Weltweit Service", included in every membership, covers recovery from impassable terrain up to EUR 25,000 worldwide — helicopter explicitly included — plus repatriation from abroad with no sum limit.
  • The German DAV's Alpiner Sicherheits-Service (ASS), automatic for all members, covers up to EUR 50,000 for rescue and recovery operations and for search efforts, plus medically necessary repatriation.

The two figures are not the same — EUR 25,000 (ÖAV) versus EUR 50,000 (DAV) — so check which club you actually joined. In Switzerland, Rega patronage adds the conditional waiver described above; Rega itself directs that for accidents abroad you always contact the local emergency services first (112 in Europe, 911 in the US).

Put the two halves of this article together and the rule writes itself: carry a way to call from anywhere, and carry the membership that pays for what the call summons. One is a phone setting or a EUR 36 subscription; the other costs a few thousand euros per missing hour of paperwork.

This guide is preparation, not a substitute for judgment on the day. In an emergency: call first — 112 in the Alps, 911 in North America — and let the professionals decide what happens next.

Sources: ÖAV — Weltweit versichert; DAV — Alpiner Sicherheits-Service; Rega — emergency numbers.

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