Climbers saved after three days spent in the Himalayas without food, water and supplies

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An American and British climbing duo were rescued from the Himalayas after surviving for three days without supplies.

American mountaineer Michelle Dvorak and her climbing partner Fay Manners had climbed more than 6,096 meters to the high mountain of Chaukhamba in northern India when a freak accident left them without food, water and medical supplies. As they neared the summit, the rope holding Manners’ supplies caught on a loose rock and snapped, sending her most important belongings tumbling down the mountain.

“We were dragging my bag and she had it on,” Manners told the UK Telegraph. “And a rock fell, cut the rope with the other bag, and just fell all the way down the mountain.”

Without headlamps to navigate at night or protective gear to return down the mountain, Manners and Dvorak were stuck in temperatures below -10°F/-23°C. Facing hypothermia and starvation, they sent for help with an emergency SOS message and hunkered down under a ledge.

“I felt hypothermia,” Manners told the BBC. “I was constantly shaking, and with no food, my body was running out of energy to keep warm.”

Over the next three days, the Indian Air Force searched Chaukhamba by helicopter but was unable to track down the two climbers due to deteriorating conditions. Out of options, Manners and Dvorak made the brave but potentially life-saving decision to attempt the descent themselves. With very limited supplies and even less energy, the pair rappelled about 610 m down the peak, where they were found by a group of French mountaineers.

“We knew we had to try to go down ourselves because the helicopter wouldn’t help us,” Manners continued. “They tried to save us but the conditions were brutal… bad weather, fog, high altitude and they couldn’t find us because the face was so huge.”

A French mountaineering group set out to search for the couple after hearing about their situation from mutual friends. While waiting for the helicopter, they shared food, supplies and sleeping bags with them.

“I cried with relief knowing we would survive,” Manners said. “They (French mountaineers) supported us in crossing the steep glacier, which would have been impossible without our equipment, crampons and ice axes.”

“We would either freeze to death or try to cross the steep glaciers at our own risk.”

Chaukhamba, with four separate peaks each over 20,000 feet high, is a monster climb in the Gangotri Group of the North Indian Himalayas. The four peaks of Chaukhamba, first conquered in 1952, have become pilgrimages for the world’s best climbers.