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Top climber falls to death after rare Himalayan feat
BBC ^ | 11/05/2024 | Ian Aikman

Posted on 11/05/2024 1:02:43 PM PST by BenLurkin

A leading Slovak mountain climber has died while descending a 7,234m (23,730ft) peak in Nepal, after completing the rare feat of scaling the mountain's perilous eastern face.

Ondrej Huserka fell into a crevasse on Thursday, after he and his climbing partner ascended the Langtang Lirung mountain in the Himalayas – the 99th-highest peak in the world.

The 34-year-old mountaineer had previously climbed in the Alps, Patagonia and the Pamir Mountains.

His Czech climbing partner Marek Holecek said the pair were returning to base after becoming the first mountaineers to ascend Langtang Lirung via a “terrifying” eastern route.

While rappelling a mountain wall, Mr Huserka’s rope snapped and he fell into an ice crevasse, his partner said in an emotional Facebook update posted after he returned alone.

He then “hit an angled surface after an 8m drop, then continued down a labyrinth into the depths of the glacier"

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Outdoors
KEYWORDS: diedsuddenly; himalayan; huserka; ondrejhuserka; slovak; suddenly
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To: MtnClimber

Did you ever watch a movie called “The Eiger Sanction”?


21 posted on 11/05/2024 1:50:38 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Henchster
"What was your second toughest climb?"

Maybe Cerro Aconcagua in Argentina. I have some photos of it on my FR home page. It took 21 days start to finish and had steep, crevassed glacier at high altitude (over 20k feet). There was very high wind and very cold temps and very heavy load carries. I had frostbite on four fingers and it took years for the feeling to come back somewhat.

22 posted on 11/05/2024 1:52:31 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Seems to be a problem with snapped ropes this season...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93y147z4pdo


23 posted on 11/05/2024 1:54:56 PM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: NorthMountain

I have seen The Eiger Sanction. I almost got hit by a falling rock. It clipped the right shoulder of my parka, but did not hit me. Then on the descent almost got caught in a HUGE icefall avalanche from the hanging glacier between the Eiger and Jungfrau. It was ice about 300 ft high and about 1500 ft wide. Missed by about 20 ft. Lucky we were not a bit faster.


24 posted on 11/05/2024 2:01:09 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: Rio
I suspect that “rope snapped” is mis-reported.

Some aspect of protection failed.

I hope the guy died right away, and not just wedged/lingered in a crevasse, waiting...

25 posted on 11/05/2024 2:04:55 PM PST by Sirius Lee (Trump/Vance 2024 or GFY)
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To: MtnClimber

How realistically did the movie portray the mountain?


26 posted on 11/05/2024 2:06:37 PM PST by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: MtnClimber

The blocks of falling ice were the size of railroad cars and went on for about a minute. We were blasted with ice shards and snow. We were trying to outrun a storm that had lightning hitting all around.


27 posted on 11/05/2024 2:08:18 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: MtnClimber

Great photos and story!


28 posted on 11/05/2024 2:09:19 PM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: steve86

Wow, what a story. Sharp rock cut their rope and they lost all their supplies: safety equipment left, tent, stove to melt snow for water, warm clothes, ice axes, crampons, head flashlight for moving at night.

Imagine what you’d feel watching all that life-saving equipment going down, down, down, gone!

Thank goodness they had a satellite communicator.

I’ve started taking a Garmin Inreach Mini satellite communicator with me on my day hikes. I’m often in somewhat remote areas with no cell service and no other hikers (or only one or two others). Nothing like what these women experienced, of course.


29 posted on 11/05/2024 2:10:13 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“President Trump sells out Madison Square Garden -- Kamala sells out America”)
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To: Henchster

Actor George Kennedy
enlisted in the United States Army during World War II in 1943. He served 16 years, reaching the rank of captain. Kennedy served in the infantry under George S. Patton, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and earned two Bronze Stars. He re-enlisted after the war, and he was discharged in the late 1950s due to a back injury.[2][3][5]


30 posted on 11/05/2024 2:12:01 PM PST by dennisw
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To: MtnClimber

WOW! What a climb! And the rest of your home page is very impressive. I’m envious.


31 posted on 11/05/2024 2:14:25 PM PST by Henchster (Free Republic - the BEST site on the web!)
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To: NorthMountain
The movie was pretty close, but the climbing scenes were filmed off the real climbing route, below a ledge on the north side where I spent the night. I will try to find a photo.

OK, the descent route is in red and the ledge about halfway down is where the climbing scenes in Eiger Sanction were filmed, hanging over the north face. One person was killed by a falling rock there while filming. The place the huge avalanche happened was lower than this ledge and off the right of this photo. OK you can see the hanging glacier on the right in this photo.

32 posted on 11/05/2024 2:20:32 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: Rio

climbing rope cuts easily when stretched under full weight.


33 posted on 11/05/2024 2:26:29 PM PST by moonhawk (Jeffrey Epstein did't kill himself; George Floyd did.)
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To: Larry Lucido

Yodalayehoo.

Tony!


34 posted on 11/05/2024 2:40:45 PM PST by The FIGHTIN Illini ("Let Us Never Forget What They Have Done")
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To: BenLurkin

very sad. I’ve read that most deaths occur on the descent.


35 posted on 11/05/2024 2:41:27 PM PST by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

“Imagine what you’d feel watching all that life-saving equipment going down, down, down, gone!”

No, that wouldn’t be me. I got nervous just having to walk down the UP escalator at Macy’s a few minutes ago (Down escalator out of service). I’m the nervous type and usually carry a pint of whole blood with me because... Well, you can never be too careful /s


36 posted on 11/05/2024 2:52:02 PM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: steve86

“ usually carry a pint of whole blood with me because... Well, you can never be too careful /s”

Thanks,for,the laugh!


37 posted on 11/05/2024 2:57:42 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“President Trump sells out Madison Square Garden -- Kamala sells out America”)
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To: BenLurkin

My nephew is brave and had climbed El Capitan “freeclimb”..no ropes, pitons, etc...
When he told my uncle he wasn’t afraid of falling and dying, my uncle asked him if he was sure he would die if he fell....nephew is married now and has some kids...don’t think he’s climbing anymore...good climbing to all so disposed....best wishes....


38 posted on 11/05/2024 2:58:12 PM PST by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find.)
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To: mairdie
We lost a woman at IBM Research, Vera Watson, on Annapurna in 1978, along with her roped partner. It was still a trauma for people when I started there in 1984.

I live in the Eastern Sierra of California, near Mt. Whitney 14,500', highest point in the lower 48 states, and I had a friend who was a local mountain guide. He died in a fall while climbing in the Andes in 1986.

39 posted on 11/05/2024 4:25:59 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: Inyo-Mono

I have to admit that I was terrified even on hill climbing. How these people do technical climbing is beyond me.


40 posted on 11/05/2024 4:43:52 PM PST by mairdie (GreenwichVillage ArmyPoet: https://www.iment.com/maida/family/father/oldsoldiersdrums/frontcover.htm)
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