Austrian Mountaineering

Hi all,
I am going to the Austrian Alps in July this year with two friends in the hope of climbing Grossglockner and a few other mountains in the Glockner Group.
We have all done a fair bit of Scottish winter mountaineering and Mt Aneto, Posets and Perdido in the central Pyrenees last summer but we have not learnt crevasse rescue so are a bit concerned about the safety of climbing Grossglockner etc without this experience.
Would it be necessary to do a quick course in crevasse rescue before attempting the mountains? And if so, does anyone have any good ideas of short courses in that area or of qualified individuals who we could possibly hire for a day or so to teach us?
I would also be very interested to have some advice on other aspects of climbing Grossglockner and recommendations of other peaks in the area which are worthwhile climbing.
Thank you very much.

Don't know about the Glockner Group, but it's easy enough to teach yourself crevasse rescue. I am sure there are loads of instructions if you Google. Plan on spending a day practising on a glacier by lowering someone into a crevasse.

You will probably need a couple of ice screws, some 5mm line to make prussik loops, a few long slings and a belay plate.A small pulley can be useful if you want to practice winching someone out, rather than letting them climb out under their own steam.

We spent an afternoon "rescuing" the children on the Mer de Glace last year. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, until I suggested I left them at the bottom of a crevasse

Thanks a lot for your advice I am very relieved to hear that crevasse rescue is simple enough to teach yourself - that will save a lot of money and time! Do you think a 30m rope is long enough for glacier travel with 3 people?

And to anyone else who knows the Glockner Group, I would be very interested to hear more about Grossglockner and other mountains in that area.
Cheers

Personally I would use a 50m rope. From memory you don't want to be closer than 30 feet apart. There are two factors to consider:

If you don't have enough rope between people the chances of being dragged in are much greater.

You will need some spare rope to perform the rescue. With only 30m you probably won't have enough.

Rescues where the person who has fallen into the crevasse and is uninjured are usually uncomplicated. However, if the person in the crevasse is badly injured, or unconscious it's much harder. If thee are two of you not in the crevasse, you can probably winch the injured person out.However, this will probably involve one of you going into the crevasse to attach a loop of rope to the injured person to a krab though their harness.With one end of the loop anchored to something like an ice screw, that gives you a mechanical advantage of 2 when heaving.