Category Archives: Mountaineering

Mountaineers who were stranded in Himalayas describe loss of their gear

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British climber Fay Manners, who was stuck for three days, says: ‘There was a big, big, long sense of silence between us’

A British mountaineer and her American companion who were stranded in the Himalayas for three days without food have described the long silence between them after the bulk of their equipment plunged into a ravine.

Fay Manners, 37, and Michelle Dvorak, 31, had been climbing the Chaukhamba mountain in northern India, when they issued an SOS message on Thursday, with nothing further being heard from them.

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Colorado man left behind during office retreat survives night on mountain

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Injured hiker became stranded after co-workers descended without him before storm in Rocky mountains

A Colorado man survived a night on a mountain by himself – while injured – after being left behind by his co-workers during an office retreat, which rescue officials pointed out may lead to some “awkward encounters at the office in the coming days and weeks”.

Colorado’s Chaffee County Search and Rescue South (CCSAR-S) shared the hiker’s harrowing ordeal in a Facebook post earlier this week, saying that at about 9pm last Friday, it was “activated for a report of an overdue hiker”. The hiker was wearing all black on the standard route of Mount Shavano, a high mountain summit in the southern Sawatch range of the Rocky mountains.

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Family of British doctor missing in French Pyrenees appeal for help

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Tom Doherty, 67, messaged his family to say he had fallen and could not move shortly before they lost contact

The family of a retired British doctor have issued an urgent appeal after he went missing in the French Pyrenees almost 48 hours ago.

Tom Doherty, 67, from St Albans, was hiking and camping near Col d’Escots when his family lost contact with him on Tuesday evening, just after he sent messages saying he had fallen and couldn’t move.

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US mountaineer buried by avalanche 22 years ago found preserved in ice, police say

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William Stampfl was trying to climb Mount Huascarán in 2002 with two friends, one who was found and one who is still missing

Police have found the well-preserved body of an American mountaineer who was buried by an avalanche 22 years ago as he tried to climb one of the highest peaks in the Andes.

Police in the Ancash region found the body of William Stampfl on Friday near a camp 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) above sea level. The 58-year-old Stampfl had been trying to climb the 6,768-meter Mount Huascarán.

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Body of climber who died after 1,000ft fall recovered from Alaska mountain

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Robbi Mecus, 52, and climbing partner, who was rescued and hospitalized, fell from Mount Johnson in Denali national park

A helicopter crew on Saturday recovered the body of a climber who died after falling about 1,000ft (305 metres) while on a steep, technical route on Mount Johnson in Alaska’s Denali national park and preserve, park officials said in a statement.

Robbi Mecus, 52, of Keene Valley, New York, died of injuries sustained in a fall Thursday while climbing a route on the south-east face of the 8,400ft (2,560-metre) mountain, the park said. His climbing partner, a 30-year-old woman from California, was seriously injured; she was rescued Friday and flown to an Anchorage hospital, park officials said.

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Everest climbers prepare to pick up their own poo as season gets under way

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Authorities are now mandating that climbers remove their waste from the mountain using biodegradable bags

It’s one of the more unedifying challenges involved in scaling to the highest point on Earth – how best to relieve oneself in the freezing, inhospitable environment of Mount Everest.

That question is about to become slightly more complicated as climbers prepare for a change in protocol when the season gets under way next month, with a new rule about removing their own faeces as they trek up and down the mountain.

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Artist captures the impact of climate crisis over 150 years on Mont Blanc

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Paintings from a climb that retraced an 1800s route on western Europe’s highest mountain reveals the extent of the peak’s melting ice

A British landscape artist who recreated a climb made 150 years ago to document the impact of the climate crisis on western Europe’s highest mountain says what he found was so grim it reminded him of the “dark paintings” of Francisco de Goya.

James Hart Dyke ascended Mont Blanc’s ancien passage north face, the route taken in 1786 by the first climbers to reach the summit. It was also the same one taken in August 1873 by French painter Gabriel Loppé, whose climb inspired Hart Dyke’s own.

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Himalayan avalanches are increasing risk for climbers in warming climate

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Experts warn that global heating is exacerbating inherent dangers of high altitude mountaineering

Avalanches in the Himalayas are causing an increasing number of deaths and threatening the safety of climbers, research suggests.

While high-altitude mountaineering comes with an inherent avalanche risk, global heating is exacerbating the danger during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range, experts warn.

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French general in charge of Notre-Dame rebuild dies in mountain fall

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Body of former chief of defence staff Jean-Louis Georgelin, 74, found on Mount Valier in Pyrénées

The French army general appointed by Emmanuel Macron to oversee the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged Notre-Dame Cathedral has died while hiking in the Pyrénées.

Mountain gendarmes discovered the body of Jean-Louis Georgelin, 74, the former chief of the defence staff, after he failed to return to a mountain refuge on Friday.

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Bodies of three hillwalkers recovered from ridge in Scottish Highlands

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Mountain rescue teams and coastguard helicopters searched for two men and a woman on Aonach Eagach in Glen Coe

The bodies of three hillwalkers have been recovered from a mountainside in the Scottish Highlands after they failed to return from a trek, police have said.

Police Scotland said concerns were raised shortly after 9pm on Saturday when the trio did not return from their walk of the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glen Coe. Coastguard helicopter and mountain rescue teams searched the area and three bodies were found.

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Hiker describes squalid conditions at evacuated Swedish mountain lodge

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Airlifts were carried out from STF Kebnekaise in Lapland on Sunday after a stomach bug outbreak

A hiker has described squalid conditions at a mountain station at the foot of Kebnekaise, Sweden’s highest peak, in the days before it was forced to close due to a stomach bug outbreak.

STF Kebnekaise, a lodge in northern Lapland run by the Swedish tourist association, had to be evacuated on Sunday after attempts to manage cases of stomach sickness through quarantine had failed. The mountain station said on Sunday that it was not known how the outbreak had started.

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Nepali sherpa saves climber in rare Everest ‘death zone’ rescue

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Gelje Sherpa was guiding Chinese client to summit when he saw Malaysian climber clinging to rope

A Malaysian climber narrowly survived after a Nepali sherpa guide hauled him down from below the summit of Mount Everest in a very rare high-altitude rescue, a government official has said.

Gelje Sherpa, 30, was guiding a Chinese client to the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) Everest summit on 18 May when he saw the Malaysian climber clinging to a rope and shivering from extreme cold in the area known as the death zone, where temperatures can dip to -30C or lower.

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German mountaineer Luis Stitzinger found dead near Himalayan peak

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Body found on Mount Kanchenjunga five days after he went missing shortly after reaching summit

A leading German mountaineer and extreme skier has been found dead on the world’s third highest mountain, in the Himalayas, five days after going missing.

The body of Luis Stitzinger was discovered on Tuesday on Mount Kanchenjunga at a height of 8,400 metres, the head Sherpa of the company that organised the climb to find him told the Himalayan Times.

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Climate change to blame for up to 17 deaths on Mount Everest, experts say

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Nepal’s head of tourism says variable weather on the mountain has led to one of the deadliest years on record

Experts say this is likely to be one of the deadliest years on record on Mount Everest, with variable weather caused by climate change being blamed as one of the main reasons for the deaths of up to 17 people.

A total of 12 people have now been confirmed dead during Everest expeditions this season and another five are missing, presumed dead, as no contact has been made for at least five days in all cases, according to the Himalayan Database, which tracks mountain fatalities.

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Spanish climber, 84, injured in bid to be oldest to scale world’s 14 highest peaks

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Carlos Soria forced to abandon ascent of Nepal’s Dhaulagiri, one of two 8,000-metre summits he is still to conquer

An 84-year-old Spanish mountaineer has been forced to abandon his 15th attempt to reach the summit of Nepal’s Dhaulagiri – one of the two “8,000ers” he had left to climb to claim the title of the oldest climber to conquer the world’s 14 highest mountains.

A Sherpa fell on Carlos Soria, injuring his leg, a message posted on his behalf on his Twitter and Facebook accounts said.

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Nepali sherpa scales summit of Mount Everest for record 27th time

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‘Strong climber’ Kami Rita Sherpa beats own record for number of ascents on world’s highest mountain

A Nepali sherpa has scaled Mount Everest for a record 27th time, beating his own record, a government official and his hiking company said.

Kami Rita Sherpa, 53, scaled the 8,849-metre (29,032ft) mountain early on Wednesday morning along the traditional south-east ridge route, guiding a foreign climber.

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Northern Irish man dies and Indian man missing on Annapurna climb in Nepal

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Noel Hanna died during descent of world’s 10th highest mountain, say expedition organisers

A Northern Irish climber has died and an Indian climber is missing after falling into a crevasse in separate incidents on Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain.

Another Indian climber fell ill on the way down from the 8,091-metre (26,540ft) summit but survived after spending the night in harsh conditions on the mountain.

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Avalanche in Indian Himalayas kills at least four with dozens missing

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Indian air force searches for remainder of group consisting of 34 mountaineering trainees and seven instructors

At least four people died and several others were missing in the Indian Himalayas after a group of 41 mountaineers was hit by an avalanche on Tuesday, the mountaineering institute in northern India said.

The group, consisting of 34 mountaineering trainees and seven instructors, was hit by the avalanche at 8.45am local time, the institute said.

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US skier Hilaree Nelson given Sherpa cremation after death in Himalayas

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Friends and family fly in and Buddhist monks light pyre at funeral in Nepal of extreme skier

A famed extreme skier from the United States who was killed after falling from one of the world’s tallest mountains was on Sunday given a traditional funeral at a Sherpa cremation ground.

Buddhist monks officiated at a ceremony attended by family, friends and government officials.

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