Mountaineers Fay Manners and Michelle Dvorak were stranded on an icy ledge for 55 hours
A British mountaineer who might have been recording her last moments has explained why she hasn’t been put off climbing.
Fay Manners, 37, went on an expedition to the Chaukhamba mountain, in northern India, on 27 September with her climbing partner Michelle Dvorak, 31, from the US.
What was supposed to be a challenging mission soon became life-threatening when the pair were stuck on an icy ledge for 55 hours.
Fay Manners is a British Mountaineer based in Chamonix Mont Blanc (Instagram/@faymanners)
They were stranded at 20,000ft, using a rope to lift their food and tent, as temperatures plummeted to as low as -15°C.
After their supplies were sent tumbling into a ravine, the duo were left ‘without hope’.
In a video recorded on her phone, Fay said: “No sign of a rescue and we’re really f***ing cold.”
“One bag down and now it’s snowing,” she said in another clip.
“No food and water. At the moment we can’t get off of the mountain.”
Thankfully, a group of French climbers came across Fay and Michelle and alerted the Indian Air Force to their location before they were picked up by a helicopter on Sunday, 6 October.
Despite the traumatic experience, Fay said it won’t stop her from climbing in the future.
“I think I’m just going to take a more relaxed climbing holiday,” she told the BBC.
Fay said she hasn’t been put off from climbing (Instagram/@faymanners)
“Although it was a really horrifying experience, mountaineering is my passion and it won’t deter me from continuing to do the sport.
“It’s usually really unlikely there would be such loose rock and rock form that would tangle your rope and split your tagline.
“I’ve been mountaineering for over 10 years on some really extreme routes, where I’ve been pioneering new lines, and it hasn’t happened to me before.
“We were really dehydrated and my body was just absolutely exhausted from trying to stay warm.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, Fay recalled: “I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm.
“Saturday morning came, we both barely survived the night.
The pair are more than grateful for being saved (Instagram/@faymanners)
“The helicopter flew past again but couldn’t see us. We were destroyed and we were losing faith.
“As we were abseiling down on Saturday we could see a team of climbers coming up the mountain towards us.
“When we reached them, they said they were there to help us and I cried with relief knowing we might survive.
“They supported us to get across the steep glacier that would have been impossible without our equipment, crampons and ice axes.
“They gave us their tent and sleeping bags, gave us water and food and finally told the helicopter where to come and collect us.”
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@faymanners
