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| Photo Credit: AP. |
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese rescuers in a helicopter were searching Tuesday for a famed U.S. ski climber a day after she fell off near the peak of the world’s eighth-highest mountain.
Also Monday,
an avalanche at a lower elevation on Mount Manaslu swept several climbers,
killing a Nepali guide and injuring others.
Hilaree
Nelson, 49, was skiing down from the 8,163-meter (26,775-foot) summit with her
partner Jim Morrison when she fell off the mountain, according to Jiban Ghimire
of the Kathmandu-based Shangri-La Nepal Trek that organized and outfitted the
expedition.
Bad weather
hampered rescue efforts Monday. But visibility was good in improved weather
conditions Tuesday while a helicopter was hovering over the mountain for signs
of the missing climber, Ghimire said.
Hundreds of
climbers and their local guides were attempting to reach the summit during
Nepal’s autumn climbing season.
All of the
climbers caught in the avalanche Monday were accounted for. Some of the injured
were flown to Kathmandu and were being treated in hospitals.
One of those
injured, Phurte Sherpa, said there were about 13-14 people who were swept by
the avalanche.
“One of our
friends died in the avalanche and there has been efforts to retrieve the body
but the rescue helicopter has not been able to do so yet,” Sherpa said. “Others
injured ones have broken hands and feet.”
Sherpa and
his brother were flown by a rescue helicopter to HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu on
Tuesday.
He said they
were on their way to Camp Four to drop oxygen cylinders when the avalanche pushed
them down to Camp Three.
Nelson, from
Telluride, Colorado, and Morrison, from Tahoe, California, are extreme skiers
who summited Mount Lhotse, the world’s fourth-highest, in 2018.
“I am not
sure about the whereabouts of the missing climber but her husband (partner) was
with us during the search (today). We made two helicopter rescue attempts to
find her but were unable,” Sherpa said.
Nepal’s
government has issued permits to 504 climbers to attempt to scale high mountain
peaks during the autumn season. Most of them are on Mount Manaslu.