A Nepalese team has retrieved the remains of Ondrej Huserka from the crevasse where he had fallen while descending Langtang Lirung in Nepal.
The rescuer team comprised accomplished Sherpa guides Pemba Gelje Sherpa, Chhiring Sherpa, Prakash Sherpa, and Kusang Sherpa. The helicopter was commanded by veteran pilot Bibek Khadka, who once performed 17 rescue flights in a single day. Holecek, still in Kathmandu, did not take part in the retrieval.
The rescue team that retrieved the body of Ondrej Huserka. Photo: Subin Takhuri/Facebook
Difficulties finding the body
The rescue took two days. Yesterday, the rescuers were dropped near the accident site and rappelled into the crevasse but couldn’t find Huserka’s body. However, on the following morning, the Nepalese returned to the site and looked again. This time, they found and retrieved it, SHS James reported.
After the successful mission, Wadim Jablonski of Poland — a regular climbing partner of Huserka and one of the people coordinating the rescue efforts — posted on social media a message that reads as critical of Holecek and/or those questioning the retrieval attempt. Huserka’s partner, Eva Milovska, posted an identical message.
Wadim Jablonski’s Instagram Stories post on November 7. Photo: Instagram
Contradictory messages after the accident
Huserka’s entourage mentioned “miscommunication issues” after the accident. On November 2, Huserka’s home team still hoped their friend could be alive and launched an SOS call to the climbing community, mentioning the miraculous rescue of Anurag Maloo. Maloo survived after three days inside a crevasse on Annapurna last year.
Hours later, Huserka’s climbing partner Marek Holecek posted a detailed recount of the events on social media, describing how he descended into the crevasse and how Huserka died in his arms after hours of agony.
The family and the expedition outfitter continued with the rescue efforts, at least hoping to retrieve the body. The first attempt was aborted because of bad weather on Monday, but they launched a second attempt on Wednesday.
Ondrej Huserka, 34, was one of Slovakia’s most prominent climbers. He made remarkable climbs in his homeland’s Tatras Mountains, in Central Asia, and in Patagonia. This included the new route Pain and Gain on Aguja Desmochada with Jozef Kristoffy in 2022. Later that year, he and Jablonski made the first ascent of a peak in India’s Garhwal Himalaya.
Ondrej Huserka. Photo: SHS James
