IAF choppers rescue 2 foreign women mountaineers stranded near Chaukhamba-3 peak

The two foreign women mountaineers who were stranded at an altitude of over 6,000 metres for three days during the expedition to Chaukhamba-3 peak after their equipment and bags slipped into a gorge were successfully rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF) teams using choppers on Sunday.
The two mountaineers were identified as Michelle Theresa Dvorak from the United States and Fay Jane Manners from the United Kingdom and they were 995 km away from the Chaukhamba-3 peak when they got stranded, according to officials.
They were part of a foreign mountaineering expedition by the India Mountaineering Foundation. The Chaukhamba peak in the Garhwal Himalayas is a large mountain, shaped like four pillars. It has four peaks that line up along a ridge running from northeast to southwest. The highest peak, Chaukhamba 1, lies on top of the Gangotri Glacier, at a height of 7,138 m. The other three peaks rise to a height of 7,088 metres, 6,995 metres, and 6,854 metres, respectively.
Two Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters were deployed to locate the two women on Friday, but they returned empty-handed after a daylong operation, which began after the Chamoli district magistrate received a request from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) for their search. The duo had sent a pager to their liaison officer from the IMF on Thursday before the communication with them was lost. The operation using choppers continued on Saturday. Meanwhile, the state disaster response force (SDRF) dropped an expert mountaineering team to the advanced base camp (at 4900 metres) to start a ground search operation.
Inspector general of police (SDRF) Ridhim Agarwal said, “In the initial phase, an aerial search was conducted with the help of helicopters, but due to the challenges of the inaccessible terrain, a team of four SDRF personnel was dropped by helicopter at the Advance Base Camp (4900 meters). From this morning, the SDRF team started moving towards the coordinates provided by the mountaineers to search for them. Meanwhile, an Indian Air Force rescue team engaged in a parallel search operation using choppers found the mountaineers and airlifted them to Joshimath. They are safe and sound.”
Commandant, SDRF Arpan Yaduvanshi said the four member SDRF team that was sent ahead of the Advance Base Camp is also being brought to Joshimath by Army choppers.
Many mountaineers and trekkers have lost their lives in the state, after they went missing or got caught due to extreme weather conditions during mountaineering and trekking.
In June, nine people of a 22-member trekking team were killed after they were caught in a blizzard on the Sahastra Tal trek in Uttarkashi district. On October 5 last year, a team from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering recovered the body of a mountaineer, a year after the person went missing following a snow avalanche incident at Dokrani Bamak glacier in Uttarkashi district. In October 2022, a team of 41 people – 34 trainees and seven trainers – were hit by an avalanche near the Dokrani Bamak glacier while returning from a high-altitude navigation from the Mount Draupadi ka Danda 2 peak (5,670 metres). Twenty-seven people had died in the incident.
In May 2022, an IAF chopper rescued seven trekkers stranded on the Pandav Shera trek area in Rudraprayag district at a height of 4,500 metres. In October 2022, one trekker died on Rudranath trekking route located at an altitude of over 3,300 metres in Chamoli district. In June 2021, SDRF rescued two trekkers, including one foreigner from Slovenia, from Hemkund Ghangaria trek route in Chamoli district. In June 2019, eight mountaineers heading for the summit near Nanda Devi East in Pithoragarh were killed after they were hit by an avalanche.