A climber sent a desperate message to their base camp before vanishing. Fay Manners and Michelle Dvorak were attempting to summit Chaukhamba III in India’s Garhwal Himalaya when they became stranded on Thursday. Manners, a 37-year-old from the UK, and Dvorak, a 31-year-old from the US, had set off from New Delhi on September 15 after securing permission to ascend the 6,974-meter peak.
Both climbers are experienced professionals, having successfully navigated challenging routes in the US, including the Bacon and Eggs route on Mini-Mini-Moonflower in Alaska.
Shortly after starting their ascent in October, the climbers ran into difficulties despite having support from someone at the mountain’s base camp. They sent a distress message notifying their support team of their situation, explaining that essential equipment had fallen into a gorge, leaving them in dire need of rescue. The SOS signal was sent from approximately 20,350 feet, prompting a coordinated rescue operation.
The lead of the rescue operation told The Sun, “Many agencies are involved, working together. The Indian Army, Indian Air Force, District Administration, State Administration, and my team, the State Disaster Response Force, are all collaborating. Our goal is to evacuate these two climbers as quickly as possible.”
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office stated, “We are assisting the family of a British woman reported missing in India and are in contact with local authorities.” High altitudes and adverse weather conditions hindered helicopter access, resulting in delays for the search effort. Although scheduled aerial operations were postponed, a French climbing party successfully reached the stranded climbers.
Manners and Dvorak are now believed to be descending to around 17,390 feet with the rescue team, moving to a safer altitude for helicopter evacuation. The Groupe Militaire de Haute Montagne from Chamonix located the climbers and reported that they appeared to be in good health.