The hope of finding alive the three French climbers who disappeared after an avalanche in the Everest region of Nepal is now “almost nil”, according to relief officials. The latter nevertheless “resumed search operations today,” said Rishi Raj Dhakal, spokesperson for the Solukhumbu district police on Tuesday, adding that the weather was “more lenient”. The three young men have not given any news since October 26.
“The police and the local population are also helping the team of qualified mountain guides,” he added. “Our helicopter dropped off the mountain guides in the morning of today [mardi] around 6:30 am for search and rescue operations, ”confirmed Shree Hari Kuikel, Kailash Helicopter Services chief operating officer.
Three bags and bivouac equipment found
Aged twenty years, Louis Pachoud, Gabriel Miloche and Thomas Arfi had undertaken the ascent of the west face of Mingbo Eiger (6,070 meters above sea level). Members of the National Mountaineering Excellence Group (GEAN), an elite formation of the French Federation of Alpine and Mountain Clubs (FFCAM), they were part of a team that arrived at the end of September, in the Khumbu and Everest region, with the aim of climbing various summits culminating at some 5,000 and 6,000 m, south of Ama Dablam (6.814 m).
On Monday, Pratap Jung Pandey, general manager of Kailash Helicopter Service had said that “something like a bag or a black object was spotted on the side of the mountain”. “The reconnaissance by helicopter dispatched by the FFCAM on Sunday, October 31 in the morning (local time) as well as the overflight of their route on Monday, November 1 made it possible to locate their tracks up to 5,900 meters on the ridge leading to the summit. At this altitude, the rescuers were able to observe the outbreak of an avalanche, ”added the FFCAM. These same traces show that they “gave up going to the top, turned around and started their descent by their ascent route”. The rescuers found three bags, as well as the equipment of the bivouac.
Nepal reopened its doors in September to foreign climbers, exempting those vaccinated from quarantine. The Covid-19 pandemic brought the tourism industry to a halt last year in the country of 30 million people, devastating its heavily dependent economy.