HAPPENED?
we had at the time. She’d had counselling and healed. We’d been travelling almost seven years and it hadn’t been an issue.”
He says Esther was in excellent physical shape and they had completed an 80-day hike spanning 1,000 miles just six weeks before her disappearance.
The most likely area for her to have fallen, the peak itself, has been scoured by helicopters and searchers with highpowered telescopes.
Listing all the equipment she had on her, Dan’s dossier notes: “If Esther did have an accident, it must have been instantly incapacitating, preventing her from deploying any form of shelter.
“There simply aren’t that many places where an individual can fall a significant distance from the trail and become both incapacitated and invisible instantly.
“Such places were the focus of the search already and no sign was found.”
Esther’s mother Ria has said she is distraught about her missing daughter.
Her father Henry, who lives in Holland, has not spoken publicly. Dan, who spent Christmas in the UK with a relative, said: “Everyone close to Esther is struggling to come to terms with her being missing.
“She’s simply the best person I’ve ever met. We can never finish a hike without her pockets bulging with litter she’s picked up. She won’t pass a stranger without smiling.”
He says he is reassured by the authorities’ efforts to find Esther, adding: “It’s clear that finding her means a lot to them as well.” French police dismiss his fears a third party was involved, saying an accident is the “favoured line of enquiry”.
Captain Jean-Marc Bordinaro told us: “The truth is there’s no evidence whatsoever that Esther got off the mountain, or that anybody else was involved.
“Sadly all kinds of people get into difficulty in the Pyrenees, including very experienced hikers.”
Dan is being supported by UK charity LBT Global, which helps families dealing with crises involving loved ones overseas.
He said: “Until Esther is found I still hold on to the hope she might come home safely.
“As soon as the weather allows, it’s my intention to return to the area and continue searching, if only to further rule out the possibility of an accident.
“It’s all I can do. Esther is my soulmate. Having her missing is like having a part of me removed and it just doesn’t stop hurting.”
As no trace was found, I lean toward somebody else being involved
DAN COLEGATE ON SEARCH FOR GIRLFRIEND ESTHER