Climbing in the Himalayas isn't for the faint of heart. It's a hostile environment that will kill you if you're not careful. Still, it's hard not to imagine the panic going through one mountain climber and their climbing partner when they lost key survival equipment.
Fortunately, the two climbers braved the elements and got an assist from the Indian Air Force. A helicopter rescued them days after the lost crucial safety equipment during their climb. Both American Michelle Dvorak and British climber Fay Manners intended to scale Chaukhamba mountain in the Himalayas, according to People.
Unfortunately, just five days into their journey, they lost crucial supplies when a rope snapped. Their supplies went tumbling into the abyss, leaving them with little to do but survive. Manners explained that they were "unlucky to have lost a bag during hauling which held most of our key safety equipment... our tent and stove, my down pants, crampons and ice axes."
"We had reached 6,400m [approximately 20,000 feet] and had felt like we were through the major hardships of the climb. We were devastated that this meant the end of our attempt after so much continued effort, and knew that we would have to deal with this major drama in an already exhausted state," Manners added.
Unfortunately, search and rescue teams struggled to locate the climbers in the Himalayas. The climbers braved the elements without their tent and food. "I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm," Manners said. The two shared a sleeping bag.
Climbers Survive Himalayas
"They did try to rescue us but the conditions were brutal for the company to operate in," she added. "Bad weather, fog, high altitude and they couldn't find us as the face was so vast."
Fortunately, a French mountaineering team found them and helped them cross a steep glacier that would have killed them.
"They supported us to get across the steep glacier that would have been impossible without our equipment crampons and ice axes," Manners told the BBC. "We would have either frozen to death or attempted to cross the steep glaciers without the right equipment and slipped to our peril. Or maybe, maybe the helicopter would finally have found us?"
The two arrived back 72 hours after losing their equipment. The Indian Air Force released a statement.
"The rescue of two foreign (US & UK) mountaineers from Chaukhamba III trek in Uttarakhand's Chamoli is a testament to the resilience and skill of the Indian Air Force, along with the collaborative efforts of SDRF, NIM, and French mountaineers," the air force wrote on X.
"We did very well to survive and retreat in the way that we did," Manners said.
