Pakistani Military Aviation in mountain rescue

Climber rescued from Himalayan peak

James Sturcke and agencies/The Guardian
Wednesday August 10, 2005

Pakistan army helicopters rescued a Slovenian climber today from one of the world’s highest and most dangerous mountains where he had been trapped for four days.
The crews, flying well above their helicopters’ normal operating altitudes, winched mountaineer Tomaz Humar, 36, off an icy ledge on the face of the 8,125m (26,657ft) Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak in the world.

“He is absolutely all right,” military spokesman Colonel Atique Rehman said.

Helicopters had tried to rescue Mr Humar, who was stranded at 6,000 metres while attempting a solo ascent of the Himalayan mountain, every day since Sunday but were thwarted by low cloud, he said.

Two army Lama helicopters set off early today and succeeded in lowering a sling and pulling him up and away.

Mr Humar was taken to the town of Gilgit, about 155 miles north-east of Islamabad, an army statement said.

He had left his ground crew in the hope of reaching peak alone, but was caught in a harsh cold front. His support crew gave a graphic account of the agonising rescue attempts on the expedition’s website.

“Tomaz waited, tied to two ice screws with a loose prusik knot so he would not stagger while trying to catch the weights on the [helicopter’s] rope,” they reported. “The helicopter approached him, dropped the rope, Tomaz caught it, wrapped it around himself, raised his thumb to confirm he was OK and the helicopter flew up.

“We saw him hanging from the rope, the helicopter approaching. At 6.30am Tomaz kissed the earth. Actually, he fell on his knees since he could barely walk from exhaustion. They laid him on a sleeping bag, he cried, hugged everyone around him and kept thanking the crew.”

Mr Humar set off from base camp last Monday after waiting for days for the weather to improve. The expedition’s website said conditions on the mountain were the worst seen for a number of years for climbing.

Two days after setting off, his support crew reported he was “extremely tired and probably quite dehydrated and is slowly losing his nerve”. On Friday a prolonged snowstorm blew in trapping him on the mountain.

Nanga Parbat, which means “naked mountain” in Urdu, is also known as “killer mountain”. It is located in the western Himalayas in the far north of Pakistan.

see also http://www.humar.com/en/index.php