Two mountain climbers were rescued after being stranded for two days at 20,000 feet in the Himalayas when their supply rope snapped, leaving them without essential gear.
Fay Manners, from Bedfordshire, Britain, and her climbing partner, Michelle Dvorak from the United States, were climbing Chaukhamba mountain in northern India when the rope carrying their provisions broke, sending their food, tent, and equipment tumbling down the mountain.
I watched the bag fall, and I knew immediately what that meant,” Manners told the BBC. We had no safety equipment left—no tent, no stove to melt snow for water, no warm clothes, no ice axes or crampons to retreat. We didn’t even have a headlamp for moving at night.”
Manners, an experienced alpinist known for difficult climbs, was faced with an extreme challenge without supplies. As snow began to fall, the climbers found shelter on a narrow ledge, sharing the only sleeping bag they had. “I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking, and with no food, my body was running out of energy to stay warm,” Manners said.
Though they managed to send an emergency text, rescue teams initially couldn’t locate them. The following morning, a helicopter search came up empty, leaving the women to spend another night in the freezing conditions.
The rescue attempt was hindered by brutal weather, fog, and the vastness of the mountain, Manners explained.
A breakthrough came when a French climbing team stumbled upon the stranded women and offered provisions. Manners was overwhelmed with relief, realizing they might be rescued. The French climbers shared food, sleeping bags, and equipment, and relayed their exact location to the helicopter crew.
They helped us cross the steep glacier we couldn’t manage without ice axes and crampons, Manners said. Without them, we would have either frozen to death or risked crossing the glacier without proper gear, which could have led to disaster. Or maybe, just maybe, the helicopter would’ve found us in time.
Manners said both she and Dvorak were terrified during their solo attempt to descend but were ultimately relieved when rescue teams finally reached them.