Top climber falls to death after rare Himalayan feat

BBC ^ | 11/05/2024 | Ian Aikman

[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"

[pepsi_junkie]

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. Not a mountaineer but I've watched some episodes of "I shouldn't be Alive" years back so that makes me an expert. I thought that climbers never relied on just one rope.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Instead, for thrills he should have taken the Royal Viking Danube fall foliage cruise.

[MtnClimber]

Reminds me of me years ago when I climbed the Eiger in Switzerland. Except I made it out and never climbed a suicide mountain again.

[jerod]

Who knows... He may be found in another 10 thousand years after this glacier melts... Or next year if you go by Al Gore’s reckoning. Did he not claim that the Himalia glaciers would be already melted by now?

[Governor Dinwiddie]

article: "While rappelling a mountain wall, Mr Huserka’s rope snapped and he fell into an ice crevasse."

Harbor Freight Himalaya climbing rope.

[Nachoman]

I shouldn’t have laughed at that;

but I did

[Larry Lucido]

[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.

[Red Badger]

Ping.................

[Henchster]

C’mon, you slid down the mountain and were lucky to get tangled in your ropes so that George Kennedy could save you from the railway tunnel.

Joking aside, that is a HELLUVA resume enhancer.

[AndyJackson]

Does it come with a steep discount - pun intended.

[MtnClimber]

That was back in 1992 I think. I still did climbs in the Rockies, Andes, Himalayas and various other places. I never came close to being killed twice in the same day like the Eiger climb.

[voicereason]

I thought that climbers never relied on just one rope.

Depends on the type and rating of the rope.

[Rio]

I suspect that “rope snapped” is mis-reported. Time will tell. The BBC article quoted is the only one that I can find that claims this.

[Salamander]

He replaces Ötzi.

[Henchster]

What was your second toughest climb?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“rope snapped”

Somebody wanted to get rid of him?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"...continued down a labyrinth into the depths of the glacier"

Body to be discovered in 10,000 years? Or maybe 100,000 years?

[Henchster]

Yeah, ropes don’t often snap...but pitons often let go.