BURSTOn August 12, Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsyna, 47, broke her leg at 7,150 meters on Pobeda Peak (7,439 meters) in Kyrgyzstan, leaving her stranded. Her climbing partner provided first aid before descending to base camp to organize a rescue operation.
Days later, alpinists Luca Sinigaglia and Gunter Sigmund reached Nagovitsyna, supplying her with a tent, sleeping bag, food, water, and fuel. During their descent on August 15, Sinigaglia died at 6,900 meters, and Sigmund left his body there. A team of four climbers is now ascending to reach Nagovitsyna, having arrived at camp two at 5,800 meters on August 20.
Alex Pyatnitsyn of the Russian Mountaineering Federation has said, “It will be almost impossible to save her. There’s a three-kilometer-long ridge, and it takes at least 30 people in such a situation to rescue a person from there.” And Alexander Yakovenko of the Russian Mountaineering Federation has said, “Today, four people are trying to get there. There’s an avalanche hazard, a big challenge. There is a small chance they will make it. But that means three, four, maybe five more days… If she’s alive, I’ll believe in a miracle. If she is saved, then I will believe in a miracle twice over.”
Pobeda is a challenging peak that often requires over a week to summit and descend. It’s one of the five mountains that make up the Snow Leopard group – all five mountains over 7,000 metres in the former USSR. Pobeda is the final of the five mountains that Nagovitsyna needed to climb to complete the Snow Leopard peaks. Over 70 climbers have died attempting Pobeda.
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