Three young French climbers reported missing in Nepal, probably swept away by an avalanche – franceinfo

Three young French mountaineers are missing, probably swept away this week by an avalanche in Nepal, franceinfo learned Sunday, October 31 from Stéphane Benoist, head of Gean, the National Mountaineering Excellence Group, present in Nepal.

Two 27-year-old men from Chambéry and Briançon, accompanied by their coach, a 34-year-old from Nice, were on an expedition to Nepal, near Ama Dablam in the Khumbu region, not far from Everest. She had to complete a learning path. They are officially “missing”. Rescue teams there have little hope of finding them alive.

The three men had left last Sunday to assault the west face of a summit of 6,070 meters, never reached, in excellent weather conditions. But the group has not given any news since Tuesday evening. A helicopter flew over the area this Sunday morning.“We have traces of material that were spotted at the foot of the wall”, says Stéphane Benoist. The most likely scenario is that they have unscrewed along the wall. An avalanche took place on Wednesday.

Research will begin this Monday with five very experienced mountain guides. Stéphane Benoist, who is in the village of Tengboche, where the mountaineers left, says to himself “devastated”. “They were great experts in risk management. We do not understand what trap they were unable to detect or which was undetectable. Did they make a mistake? “, he wonders.