Posted: Oct 24, 2005 12:10 am EDT
Hopes are scarce for the 18 climbers including seven French mountaineers and 11 Nepali support staff who got trapped by an avalanche on Thursday on the lower slopes of Mount Kang Guru (6,981m), north-west Nepal. The 21 expedition members led by Daniel Stolzenberg are out of contact since Thursday, when they set off from BC towards higher camps.

Four Sherpas of the expedition were rescued yesterday, and reported that the other team members had been trapped. The Sherpas escaped the snow slide because they were out of their tents when the accident took place.

No deaths confirmed yet

Yesterday, Nepal TV reported that all the 18 missing people had been killed. When contacted though, a senior police official at the Western Regional Police Office in Pokhara said all he could confirm was that the expedition members were missing, according to Nepal News.

The French Government is also reluctant to confirm deaths. "We are still extremely worried about the roped party of seven French climbers and their Nepali Sherpas," the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement earlier today. French authorities are sending an experienced team of mountain rescuers from Chamonix to collaborate in the search labors, already launched by the Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA).

HRA and Chamonix guides to the rescue

News is yet expected of the seven-member HRA rescue team, who approached the isolated area (in Manang district) aboard an MI-17 chopper yesterday. “We are still discussing further action,” an HRA official told Nepalnews earlier today.

The HRA officials said the French expedition was cut off by earlier than expected snowstorms that had triggered an avalanche. Normally the first snows arrive later in the month.

Fellow Chamonix Mountain Guides pessimist

Acording to Nepal’s ministry of Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation, the names of the missing French mountaineers are Bruno Chardin, 54, Bernard Constantin, 65, Pierre G. Fleuatti, 35, Jean Francois Jube, 63, Jean Paul Minette, 51, Marie Odile Stolzenberg, 62, and Daniel Stolzenberg, 60.

Daniel Stolzenberg, expedition leader, was a climbing and mountaineering teacher with ENSA (l'École Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinism) the prestigious National School of Ski and Alpinism based in Chamonix. Daniel organized Himalayan expeditions every year for his friends. He was climbing with his wife, also missing.

Fellow mountain guides in his home-town of Chamonix, (French Alps) are pessimist about the possible outcome of the story. “It is virtually impossible to find an avalanche victim alive after four days, least of all at such high altitude,” they told Kairn.com.

French’s Ministry alert to trekkers

The Nepal Rescue Association fears that other trekkers and mountaineers may be affected by the early onset of bad weather. The situation tragically recalls the fall of 1987 when 27 Western mountaineers and trekkers were found dead in Nepal trapped by snow storms.

The French ministry of Foreign Affairs has published an alert for people visiting Nepal to avoid trekking in the Annapurna area, due to the excess of snow. The trek to Annapurna BC and the Annapurna circuit are among the most popular trekking areas in Nepal. In addition, October and May are the two busiest months for Nepal trekkers.

Located between Annapurna and Manaslu’s massifs, Kang Guru is a relatively isolated peak. The normal route to the summit includes some slightly technical sections, which are usually protected with fixed ropes by the scarce expeditions attempting the peak.

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