WARSAW – After an exhausting night ascent, Polish climbers rescued French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol from the treacherous slopes of Pakistan’s “Killer Mountain” but were unable to save her climbing companion, Poland’s winter climbing team said.
Ms Revol and Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz had called for help on Friday from about 7400 metres up Pakistan’s second-highest peak, the 8126m Nanga Parbat.
A team of Polish climbers preparing for the first winter ascent of the nearby K2 mountain set off to rescue them. Ascending until the early hours of Sunday, they found Ms Revol exhausted and suffering from frostbite, but an approaching snow storm prevented them from going higher for Mr Mackiewicz.
“I salute the courage of the four Polish heroes … My thoughts are with the family and relatives of Tomasz,” French ambassador to Poland Pierre Levy said on Twitter.
The rescue team were Russian climber Denis Urubko, who has dual Polish citizenship, together with Polish climbers Adam Bielecki, Jaroslaw Botor and Piotrek Tomala. They were dropped off by helicopters at about 4900m, from where the first two climbers began their ascent. Pakistani helicopters had spotted Ms Revol at about 6700m on Saturday.
“THANK YOU Denis & Adam – without you… I can’t imagine,” Ms Revol’s partner Ludovic Giambiasi said on Facebook, adding that Ms Revol had been transported to a hospital in
Islamabad.
A crowdfunding campaign raised nearly $140,000 to finance the rescue and support the wife and three children of Mr Mackiewicz.
“The mountains were his own world and his fulfilment,” said Mr Mackiewicz’s wife Anna Solska.
Pakistan rivals Nepal for the number of peaks higher than 7000m. Nanga Parbat has become known as “Killer Mountain” because of the high number of lives it has claimed.
In June, a Spanish man and an Argentinian perished in an avalanche while trying to scale its peak. The first successful winter ascent of the mountain was made in February 2016.
