New Delhi: The Indian Air Force on 6 October 2024 rescued two women trekkers who lost their way to the Chaukhamba-III massif at Chamoli in the Garhwal Himalayas.
British alpinist Fay Manners, 37, and her fellow American mountaineer Michelle Dvorak, 31, went missing on 3 October after a loose rock cut the rope used to haul the duo’s bags, leaving them without supplies.
“We were unlucky,” wrote Manners in an Instagram post, summing up their harrowing experience. “We had reached 6,400 m and felt like we were through the major hardships of the climb. We were devastated because it meant the end of our attempt, and knew that we would have to deal with this major drama in an already exhausted state.”
The alpinist also posted a bunch of images and a video that captured their trekking journey.
Manners’ Instagram family of over 16,000 followers were delighted to learn about her safe return to the base camp.
“Super glad to read you are back down safe. What an incredible feat of stamina and willpower. Massive respect,” read a comment. “Always a bummer to have such strong work to end in a troubling situation. We are glad you both are okay. We were praying for you,” wrote another.
Dvorak and Manners were stranded for two days at a height of more than 20,000 feet, without any safety equipment, tent, stove, or warm clothes.
The mountaineers had sent an emergency message, but search and rescue teams were unable to find them, initially.
The women took cover on a ledge as it started snowing, sharing the only sleeping bag they had.
“I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking, and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm,” Manners told BBC. “I was exhausted, mentally destroyed and over tired to the point I couldn’t sleep.”
The record speaks
Manners is one of the first women to ascend to ‘Phantom Direct’ on the South Face Grandes Jorasses in Europe, the longest ice route in the Mont Blanc massif. She has made eight first ascents, including Pakistan’s Trango II (6,327m) called Waa Shakil (6b/M5), a 750m traditional rock climb called “Mental Breakdown” on the Father Tower in Greenland’s Mythic Cirque, North Face of the Eiger, the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses, and the Cassin Ridge on Denali.
Meanwhile, Dvorak is also an assistant teacher at the University of Washington.
The duo left their base camp on the Satopanth Glacier to attempt Chaukhama III, which lies 6,995 metres above sea level, via its unclimbed buttress on 27 September.
For the following five days, Manners and Dvorak “navigated across steep and complex crevassed terrain, rock climbed granite, ice and mixed terrain, slept on some truly precarious bivy ledges and picked our way carefully around some very loose blocks”.
When Manners sent an emergency message, after losing the equipment and bags, the IAF teamed up with a group of French mountaineers, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) to rescue the mountain climbers.
A helicopter came to find the pair but could not locate them. Following this, the women tried to make part of the descent alone.
The next morning, they saw a team of French climbers, rescuers who had heard about their situation from mutual friends, coming toward them.
The group shared their equipment, food, and sleeping bags with the women. They contacted the IAF helicopter with an exact location for rescue.
“I cried with relief knowing we might survive. They supported us to get across the steep glacier that would have been impossible without equipment – crampons and ice axes,” Manners said. “We would have either frozen to death or attempted to cross the steep glaciers without the right equipment and slipped to our peril. Or maybe, maybe the helicopter would finally have found us?”
After 72 hours of carefully descending between white-outs and snow storms, with very little sleep, food or water, Manners and Dvorak “arrived back to safety”.
“The rescue of two foreign mountaineers from Chaukhamba III trek in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli is a testament to the resilience and skill of the Indian Air Force, along with the collaborative efforts of SDRF, NIM, and French mountaineers. After battling two days of bad weather, the IAF’s Cheetah helicopter airlifted the climbers from 17,400 feet, showcasing remarkable coordination in extreme conditions,” wrote IAF in a post on X.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)