Posted on 08/23/2025 12:21:50 PM PDT by DFG
A bid to save a woman stuck 22,000ft up a mountain with a broken leg has been called off after ten days due to bad weather - and one rescuer died trying to help her.
Russian mountaineer Natalia, also known as Natasha, Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped at 22,965ft on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan, with a summit height of 24,406ft.
Nagovitsina, who is a well-known mountaineer, was reportedly seen moving on drone footage as recently as three days ago.
She was injured on August 12, when her climbing partner helped her as best they could before returning further down the mountain to get help.
But since then temperatures have sunk to minus 23C and multiple rescue attempts have ended in tragedy.
Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia, 49, was one of those who attempted to rescue her and managed to deliver a sleeping bag, tent, food, water and a gas cooker to Nagovitsina.
But repeated efforts to bring her down failed, both by climbing and using a helicopter.
Matters escalated after Sinigaglia himself then died on the mountain from prolonged exposure to low oxygen and hypothermia.
Today a final effort to climb to Nagovitsina was abandoned just 3,600ft below where she is stuck, with the weather set to worsen, as the team were ordered to return to base camp.
Previously attempts involved two separate helicopters, including a defence ministry Mi-8 helicopter which crashed as it sought to rescue her.
Another helicopter, a Mi-17VM, was sent, but zero visibility again forced rescuers to abandon the attempt.
Dmitry Grekov, rescue leader and head of base camp at Victory Peak, said today that experienced mountaineer Vitaly Akimov had led a team seeking to climb to Nagovitsina.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It seems like most deadly accidents happens on descent.
People are exhausted, an trying to hurry up to get down.
E.G. during first climb of Matterhorn most of the party perished on descent. They found somebody just recently.
Exactly.
Looks like that’s one group that isn’t helped by the Climate Crisis hot temps. Mountain climbers.
That's -9.4F. I can see where that would be an issue for sure.
Does, AI, write this, slop?
My daughter just hiked to 20,000 feet in the Andes after spending two weeks at 11,000 feet. She hiked, mind you, not climbed, and rode a horse back down the trail.
I flew in to Colorado to see a friend living near Denver from back home in the midwest. The next day, we were at a mountain park hiking up two peaks that were over 12,000 feet at the top. I got to one with a lot of panting and nearly the top of the other, but I was panting like crazy and just not getting oxygen fast. I felt great, otherwise.
There was a last stretch that was maybe 100 feet of steep walking. I just could not make it. I was breathing and could get okay again, but moving up with effort was just not working for me. I could only stay or go down during those minutes. I told him I didn’t know why it was so rough, but that I just could not finish it.
Well, later, I looked it up and I likely had a form of altitude sickness. I never felt bad or uncomfortable, but breathing was just not working. Going down with my backpack was fine, but going down is controlled falling, which requires little effort.
I can’t imagine what 22,000 foot is like, but you sure had better acclimate a lot more than 12 hours, like I did. It apparently takes two weeks for red blood cells to make 12,000 - 13,000 work well for us. I had come from 600 foot above sea level, but was quite fit.
We all went through that ‘tom boy’ stage. She’s one of those girls that never outgrew it
I cannot get past your equivalence between the two - as a former Marine, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. For a military man to retrieve a fallen warrior is of the absolute highest order, and well worth any effort. Any military personnel that is fallen in combat deserves every possible effort to retrieve their remains. You will note, from time to time, you hear about a fallen soldier from a long-past war being found and the body being brought back to be laid at rest in honor- dont seem to even recall a dead mountaineer receiving the same.
I believe there are still bodies on Mount Everest that are deemed unrecoverable.
4.4 miles up
I live in Denver and one of my favorite things about living at high altitude is that when I travel to sea level it feels like I’m Superman. Those extra red blood cells make it possible to walk for miles without feeling even a hint of fatigue. My wife and I spent several weeks in Japan earlier this summer, and we walked a ton but never felt fatigued from a cardio vascular standpoint. My feet hurt a lot, though (altitude adaptation can’t help with that).
I’ve read that it’s sometimes possible for those of us who live at altitude to actually experience a negative effect from visiting lower altitude due to the blood thickening or something, but I’ve definitely never experienced it. There’s a reason that Olympic athletes train at high altitude, and why the U.S. Olympic training center is located in Colorado Springs.
Decades ago I climbed 14,509 foot Mt. Whitney (at the time believed to be 14,496'), air was sparse and it was difficult to hike at 14,000 feet but it helped that I live at 4,200 feet.
That high up, there’s not a lot of air for rotors to beat into submission.
They participate in a high risk sport, then shift the risk to rescuers to bail them out when they fail. Irresponsible fools.
High mountains and low brains don’t mix.
Incredible that you hit 14K. I’m amazed at the Sherpas who hike Everest w/out oxygen. Truly a superhuman feat.
what’s an old woman doing climbing that to begin with!
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