Search and rescue efforts on 6,974m Chaukhamba III in India’s Garhwal Himalaya failed today to locate Fay Manners and Michelle Dvorak. The two elite women climbers have been missing for two days.
At last word, they were stranded at 6,500m after their bag of climbing gear, food and other equipment fell into a deep gorge. There has been no contact with the missing duo since Thursday.
During the first rescue attempts yesterday, bad weather prevented the helicopters from flying high enough. Today, two Indian Air Force Chetak helicopters made three sorties over Chaukhamba III. Adverse weather and fog again made it impossible to find them, according to the timesofindia.
However, the helicopters dropped four State Disaster Response members at the advanced base camp at 4,990m. They will begin a ground rescue operation on Sunday. Unfortunately, the weather is worsening, and the rescuers may just have a short weather window to reach the stranded pair over dangerous terrain.
However, there is also a second expedition on the mountain — four French mountaineers from Chamonix ‘s Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne climbing team. They plan to make an alpine-style ascent of the east pillar of Chaukhamba III. Some Indian sources suggest that the French may have made contact with the two missing women, but this is unconfirmed.
We will update as more news becomes available.
