abstracts 2010 - Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Gebirgsmedizin

Manaslu / Annapurna, April 28 th 2010
On April 28 th , Richard, Sabin and Daniel took off from Kathmandu heading to Manaslu. The
Korean expedition leader wanted us to search again for the dead bodies of the Korean
expedition (see previous report). According to the expedition members, the spotted climber
we found the previous day was not a member of the Korean expedition.
After an extensive search we had to abort the mission, none of the dead bodies was found.
Shortly after the landing in Kathmandu we were called to another rescue mission to Mount
Annapurna.
A Spanish expedition was reported to be in trouble on the north ridge.
One expedition member was reported to be exhausted, blind and unable to move his legs and
arms. At this time, it was not clear at what altitude and position he was. We immediately took
off from Kathmandu, heading for Annapurna base camp. Due to bad weather, we were unable
to fly to the base camp and had to land in Pokhara where we stayed overnight.
The next morning we took off from Pokhara at 6 o’clock. The weather was clear, so we
reached base camp in short time.
After a briefing with the Spanish expedition leader, we found out that one member was lying
at 7`500 meters, most likely dead. During the night, one Sherpa climbed up from camp 4 to
look for the missing Spanish climber, but unfortunately he could not find him. In addition,
three climbers were stocked in camp 4 at 6`950 meters, suffering from altitude sickness and
frost bites.
In a recognition flight with Sabin and the expedition doctor we could not find the missing
Spanish climber. Therefore we decided to fly out the climbers from camp 4. In the steep
terrain of camp 4 a landing was not possible, so the only way to get the stranded and
exhausted climbers down was by the use of the short haul or MERS (long line).
After three attempts, Dani placed Richard at camp 4 but due to rising troubles with Richards’s
oxygen system, we decided not taking the risk of leaving Richard at 7`000 meters without
supplemental oxygen.
With the gained experience of this flight and the clear radio communication with camp 4, we
decided to fly to camp 4 with the longline only, and so all three expedition members were
evacuated from camp 4 at 6950 meters down to base camp at 4000 meters with the line. This
was the highest rescue mission ever performed with a helicopter.
Dani and Richard, Pokhara, April 29 th 2010