Dreams sank into the Himalayas: American and British climbers stranded for three days

Dreams sank into the Himalayas: American and British climbers stranded for three days

Fay Manners and Michelle Dvorak stood high on the snow-covered flank of a Himalaya mountains when the misfortune was the mission to climb the summit first, suddenly interrupted.

At a height of over 6,000 meters, a falling rock tore the rope that Manners ’bag wore. Suddenly the two mountaineers were stranded in the inhospitable wilderness, without vital equipment such as tent, stove, food, crampons and ice ax.

a shocking experience

"It was a terrible experience," said Manners on Wednesday in New Delhi, Indian, where the two women were waiting for their return flight after their miraculous rescue. "Everything I can really remember is how I saw the bag fall down the mountain and was completely shocked: 'How did that happen? What was going on here?'" "

Despite the dramatic situation, their first reaction was not the fear of their life, but the disappointment that their meticulously prepared mission, which required a lot of training and height adaptation, was ended shortly before her goal.

The dangerous adventure

Manners, a Briton who lives in France, and Dvorak, an American, were “extremely desperate” to reach the summit of the undesigned mountain in northern Uttarakhand, India. Her attempt to climb the almost 7,000 meter high Chaukhamba III began on September 27th. They crossed ice and rocks and slept on narrow abysses. Manners reported that access to the mountain was incredibly difficult; They had opted for a labyrinth -like route that included endless deep glacier columns and daring snow bridges that could collapse in warmer weather. It required three attempts before they even reached the base camp.

The desperate location

"We were at the end of all difficulties ... maybe we only had one day left to reach the summit, and then we would have been the first to climb this summit," said Manners. Instead, "our dreams simply fell down the mountain."

Without their equipment, the descent over the glacier columns was almost impossible, which is why they contacted the emergency call. But the severity of her situation soon became obvious when the helicopters could not find them on the wide flank of the mountain the next morning and again the following day.

The rescue mission

Ravindra Singh Negi, the information officer in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, said that the rescue operation was carried out with the participation of the Indian Air Force, the state disaster protection troop and the Nehru Institute for Mountaineering. "We were looking for the coordinates all day, which gave us the travel company, but found nothing," he said.

In the meantime, the mountaineers only had two energy seals available and no water because their stove was lost. Manners reported that even her dehydrated meal was unusable without the stove. In a desperate moment they roped down in a place with dripping ice and collected a little bit of water during the few hours of sun.

extreme weather and emergency

The conditions continued to deteriorate when they were confronted with a snowstorm, hail and even an avalanche. They crouched in their wet sleeping bag, their hair was frozen into ice, and the nightly temperatures sank to up to –15 degrees Celsius. "I was close to a hypothermic, I thought, and I trembled so violently all night that Michelle had to hold my legs to keep me warm," said Manners. "This sleeping bag saved our life."

They knew that they had to act even though they were weak and disoriented. The next morning they started to rin the mountain by dense fog, knowing that the way back to the basic camp could be "extremely dangerous" and the likelihood of serious injuries or falling into a glacier column was high.

rescue by French mountaineers

When they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw a group of French climbers - a rival team who also hoped to climb the summit first. Negi informed that the Indian authorities had asked the French team for help after they could not find men and Dvorak.

When Manners realized that the French team had been sent to save them, "all my emotions came out at once, and I had tears in my eyes," she said.

back into life

Both climbers are unharmed and look forward to flying home. However, she did not prevent her near -death experience from watching her dreams, said Manners, who encourages other women and girls to do the sport. She plans to try the summit again next year - maybe even with the French team that saved them.

"If people look at our experience, I hope that they see two strong women who" were very close to the summit, "she said. "And when it went wrong, they were still able to survive and maneuver themselves through this really adverse and terrible situation."