Four injured climbers have been evacuated from an altitude of 6,888m, right below Camp IV of Manaslu on Tuesday morning, while two injured were air lifted from there a day before, rescue operator said.
Monday’s avalanche above Camp III had killed one guide, Anup Rai from Satori Adventures and injured 13 climbers who were heading to the summit of the 8,163m high mountain in central Nepal.
“Rescue helicopter evacuated two climbers on Monday evening, while additional four climbers were rescued on Tuesday morning. All of them were flown to Kathmandu for treatment,” Tashi Lakpa Sherpa of Heli Everest Heli told Everest Chronicle.
The body of the deceased is still to be recovered from the mountain, according to Tashi.
Rescue operation was hampered by bad weather on Monday. Besides, there was a need to take flight permit from the Manaslu Conservation Area, which significantly delayed the rescue operations. Guide Anup Rai died due to lack of timely rescue.
Climbers, mostly Sherpa guides who are waiting at the base camp for weeks for a good weather window, came to the rescue of those injured in the avalanche.
Legendary climber Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai commended the spontaneous action of search and rescue effort by fellow climbers in one of his Fecbook posts. “It is good to see the whole mountain community working together,” he said adding, “Often the mountaineering community is known for full on ego, but yesterday I witnessed something really cool. Climbers who were in a position to help, helped. They dug out the climbers who were buried and field first aid was given.”
However, search and rescue operations to locate the missing legendary mountain skier Hilaree Nelson has been called off for the day. The helicopter went out at 7 am, which continuously searched on the south slope of the mountain. Her partner Jim Morrison was in the helicopter to locate her.
Nelson and Morrison stood atop the summit of Manaslu at 11.30am local time on Monday. They started skiing down from the top as planned. However, Nelson’s ski blade skidded off few meters below the peak and she fell off the other side of the peak, according to Jiban Ghimire of Shangri-La Trek, Nelson’s outfitter. It could be an estimated 3000-meter free fall from the peak.
North Face athlete Hilaree is a prolific skier and adventurer, who has already skied down from Cho Oyu (8,188m) and Lhotse (8,516m), the world’s sixth and fourth highest peaks respectively. She completed the ski descent of Lhotse with her partner Morrison in 2018.
“The search and rescue operation will continue tomorrow,” Ghimire told Everest Chronicle.
