Climbers Survive 3 Days Stranded in Himalayas

When the rope lifting their food and climbing equipment snapped more than 20,000 feet up Chaukhamba mountain in India's Himalayas, Fay Manners and climbing partner Michelle Dvorak were "terrified," Manners tells the BBC. They were stranded without supplies for three days, in conditions Manners describes as "brutal," and were attempting to descend on their own when rescuers found them. Manners is an experienced alpinist with sponsorships from brands including the North Face, the Guardian reports. Their harrowing experience began with a rockfall that came, cut the rope, and dragged it down into a ravine.

"We had none of our safety equipment left. No tent. No stove to melt snow for water. No warm clothes for the evening. Our ice axes and crampons for retreat back to basecamp. No head torch for moving at night," she recalls. But they did manage to text emergency services, though the ensuing search and rescue response was hampered by bad weather including fog and snow. A helicopter flew past but couldn't spot them, but eventually—after sleeping on a ledge sharing the one sleeping bag they had, and gathering water from melting ice—a team of French climbers who had heard about their plight found them. "I cried with relief knowing we might survive," Manners says. (More Himalayas stories.)