By Binaj Gurubacharya
Associated Press
A rescue team was searching in Nepal on Tuesday, with the help of a helicopter, for the American alpine skier Hilaree Nelson, who fell when she descended Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world, after reaching its summit in the Himalayas.
The disappearance of Nelson, 49, coincided with an avalanche on Monday at a lower level of the mountain, in which a Nepalese guide was killed and several climbers were injured.
Nelson and Morrison, in Kathmandu in 2018. Niranjan Shrestha / AP
Nelson, 49, was skiing down after reaching the 26,775-foot summit with his partner Jim Morrison, according to Jiban Ghimire of the Kathmandu company that organized his expedition.
A witness said he saw the athlete fall to the bottom of a crack about 82 meters deep, according to the newspaper El País.
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Another witness told The Himalayan Times that he saw Nelson lose a ski, which caused him to fall, according to El País.
Morrison managed to take to the field and sound the alarm.
Nelson, born in Telluride, Colorado, and Morrison, from Tahoe, California, practice extreme skiing professionally and managed to summit Mount Lhotse, the fourth highest in the world, in 2018.
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Bad weather made the search difficult Monday, but hours later it improved and a helicopter flew over the mountain, Ghimire said.
Among the survivors of the avalanche is the Mexican athlete Raja Jaime, as he explained on his Twitter social network account.
"Things are not easy here in the mountains, an avalanche in the last fields. Some people died, many wounded and some disappeared," he said.
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Those injured in the avalanche were airlifted to hospitals in Kathmandu.
One of them, Phurte Sherpa, explained that between 13 and 14 people were swept away by the avalanche.
"One of our friends died in the avalanche, attempts have been made to recover the body but the rescue helicopter has not been able to do so yet," Sherpa said.
"Other wounded have broken hands and feet," Sherpa added.
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The avalanche surprised the climbers as they headed to Base Camp 4 to drop off oxygen bottles.
“I'm not sure of the whereabouts of the missing climber, but [Morrison] was with us on the search.
We made two helicopter rescue attempts to find her but we couldn't," Sherpa said.
Nepal fills with climbers in autumn, trying to reach the top of some of the highest mountains in the world together with their local guides.
The Government issued permits for this season to 504 climbers, most of whom are concentrated in Manaslu.
