More than just a folk song, the Austrian Army (Österreichs Bundesheer) Gebirgsjäger-Wettkampfes is a grueling Alpine mountaineer competition that is sort of the Olympics for mountain warfare folks.
This year’s raid saw 22 teams from nine nations: Austria, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic Germany, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and the U.S.
Hosted by 6. Gebirgsbrigade— the Austrian home team– the event is rugged for sure.
Of interest, this year’s event also saw some trial use of the planned new Austrian Army Kampfweste, or battle-vest
Teams in the top three this year were from Germany, Switzerland, and…China. While the first two are no surprise, the last should raise some eyebrows for the Indian Army, which has had lots of high-mountain antics with the Chinese as of late.
A full 600-picture gallery is here.