A helicopter search team has found the bodies of the five climbers who went quiet during a summit push on Dhaulagiri. Rescuers spotted the Russian group at 7,100m.
The victims are expedition leader Alexander Dusheyko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko, and Dmitry Shpilevoy. The team set off on their summit push on October 6 but did not check in again. With no news, authorities scheduled an aerial survey today at 6 am, Nepal time.
The helicopter picked up Denis Aleksenko (who had summited on October 5 and was waiting in Base Camp) to help search the route.
They spotted the bodies during their reconnaissance flight.
The traverse under Dhaulagiri’s summit ridge, where the fall presumably took place. Photo: Denis Aleksenko
Joint fall
According to preliminary reports, the climbers might have fallen from around 7,600m at the long traverse under the mountain’s summit ridge. It is unclear whether an avalanche caused the fall or if the climbers were attached to the same rope and one slip dragged the rest down.
The route taken by Denis Aleksenko and Artem Tsenzevintsky on October 5. Photo: Denis Aleksenko
A sixth climber, Valery Shamalo, turned around somewhere above Camp 4 during the summit push. He was airlifted from Camp 1 to a hospital in Kathmandu. Shamalo previously had all his toes and parts of his fingers amputated after a close call on Lhotse in 2017.
Tragedy repeats
This is the second year in a row that Russian expeditions on Dhaulagiri have experienced tragedy. In 2023, a smaller team attempted to climb the mountain without oxygen or sherpa support. The expedition came to a sad end when climber Nadya Oleneva perished in a fall.
This 2024 expedition was also self-sufficient. The 15 climbers used no oxygen or sherpa support beyond Base Camp. They were alone on the mountain.
