Mountain rescue operations in the Alps are conducted with urgency and with tools designed for rapid, effective extraction.

The priority is the victim.

The preservation of the surrounding context — the careful documentation of exactly where and how a body lay, the recording of associated objects and their positions, the protection of the immediate environment — is not part of mountain rescue protocol, because in a normal rescue there is no need for it.

The first tools used on Ötzi were a pneumatic drill (to free his body from the ice in which the lower half was still encased) and a ski pole (used to pry at the body, causing damage to his hip).

An attempt was made to extract him by helicopter, which failed when the weather turned and forced the helicopter to leave.