Rescuers told climber to leave ailing partner on ‘killer mountain’
A FRENCH mountaineer rescued in a dramatic night-time operation from a treacherous mountain in Pakistan has told how she had to leave behind her sick climbing partner and descend the peak alone in darkness.
Elisabeth Revol, speaking from a hospital in France’s Haute-savoie, where doctors are assessing whether she will require amputations due to frostbite in her hands and left foot, said rescuers urged her to abandon Tomek Mackiewicz, a Polish national, who is presumed to have died.
She earlier described the decision as “terrible and painful”.
It was during Ms Revol’s fourth attempt – her third with Mr Mackiewicz – to scale 26,660ft (8,125m) Nanga Parbat, known as the “killer mountain”, when they hit severe conditions.
A group of Polish climbers got to Ms Revol, but could not reach Mr Mackiewicz, who was stranded higher up the mountain.
Ms Revol, who weighed just 95lb (43 kilos) following her ordeal, left France on Dec 15 and began her adventure with Mr Mackiewicz on Jan 20.
A few days later, as they approached the summit, she says they “felt good”. By early evening they finally reached the peak – making Ms Revol the first woman to scale the mountain in winter, without oxygen or a sherpa. But their joy was short-lived.
“Tomek told me, ‘I can’t see anything any more,’” Ms Revol said. “He hadn’t used a mask because it was a bit hazy during the day and by nightfall he had ophthalmia [an inflammation of the eye].
“We hardly had a second at the top. We had to rush to get down.”
Mr Mackiewicz clung to Ms Revol’s shoulders and they began the long, difficult descent in darkness.
“At one point, he couldn’t breathe,” she said. “He took off the protection he had in front of his mouth and he began to freeze. His nose became white and then his hands, his feet.”
They huddled overnight in a crevasse, trying desperately to shelter from the biting wind. But Mr Mackiewicz no longer had the strength to continue the descent and by sunrise, his condition had deteriorated further.
Ms Revol alerted everyone she could that they needed help, but certain messages were lost in transmission.
Eventually, instructions came through from her rescuers. “They told me, ‘If you go down to 6,000m, we can pick you up, and we can get Tomek at 7,200m.’”
She added: “It wasn’t a decision I made, it was imposed on me.”
To Mr Mackiewicz, she remembers simply saying: “Listen, the helicopter
‘They told me, “If you go down to 6,000m, we can pick you up, and we can get Tomek at 7,200m” ’
will arrive late afternoon. I must go down, they’ll come to get you.”
Ms Revol was later flown to Islamabad and on to Switzerland yesterday before being transported across the border.
A crowdfunding page set up to support Mr Mackiewicz’s three children has been inundated with donations, looking set to break its €150,000 (£131,500) target last night.
The page acknowledges the great expense of rescuing Ms Revol – estimated at $80,000 (£56,000) – and calls on well-wishers to also give money to Anna Antonina, Mr Mackiewicz’s wife, and children.