Tomaz Humar, Veteran Climber, Stranded In The Himalayas, Colleague Says

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (Associated Press) -- A veteran Slovenian mountaineer has become stranded in the Himalayas during a solo climb, and bad weather is hampering rescue efforts, a colleague said Thursday.

Tomaz Humar last contacted his base team in Nepal on a satellite phone Monday to say he had been injured, and he has not been heard from since, Viki Groselj told The Associated Press. Groselj could not identify the injury, but Slovenia's Delo newspaper, which also reported the event, said on its Web site that Humar had broken a leg.

In Katmandu, Nepal's Department of Mountaineering could not immediately be reached for comment late Thursday night.

Groselj said Humar was believed to be stuck at an altitude of about 20,670 feet (6,300 meters) on the southern face of the (23,710-feet-high (7,227-meter-high) Langtang Lirung mountain in Nepal.

Groselj said bad weather has been hampering rescue efforts, but he could not provide details.

Humar, 40, who is married with two children, has climbed many mountains around the world.

In 2005, he got trapped in the Himalayas on an icy ledge of Nanga Parbat mountain at about (19,685 feet) 6,000 meters during a solo climb. Two Pakistani army helicopter pilots eventually saved him and were later decorated with Slovenian highest award for bravery.

Humar received the annual Piolet d'Or mountaineering award from a French magazine in 1996, and the Sliver Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia in 1999.

Comments

[socialtalker]

i hope the people who climb those mountain peaks are forced to buy "rescue insurance" if i was the government there, thats what i would require.

[AirViceMarshalPark]

I once talked with a Nepali scholar about westerners climbing Himalayan mountains.

His response was, "Why?"

You cannot give me one instance of any scientific knowledge that has ever been gained by Himalayan climbers that couldn't have been gained by freezing someone in the hold of a depressurized airplane at 29,000 feet.

[Merckx]

What?

[caferide]

He's from Slovenia. Is that considered "western"?

[boner]

East and west are relative terms.

[instarx]

Well, actually, acclimation studies have been done to determine how best to acclimate people who need to work at or travel to high altitudes, and that is impossible to do in an airplane. Also it is impossible to place someone in an airplane at 28,000 feet for days or weeks at a time. Additionally, the effect of work and the ability to perform work at altitude and for long periods has to be studied by people at high altitude. And then there are the HAPE and HACE studies. So although you are very opinionated, you simply do not know what you are talking about.

[dora rice]

He knows the risk, and tries to make money from the ordeal, but who pays for the rescue? not to sound cruel or callous , but it's time to be responsible for your own action. We don't learn anything anymore from these climbs, because many of people climbed these mountains and gave us all the date we need.He learned how to survive in extreme conditions and that is what it is.

[Merckx]

Oh brother. Go back to watching reruns of Roseanne.
Leave the living to the rest of us.

[caferide]

Agreed.

[Furby2]

As long as people doing some risky living are willing to accept the dying part along with it, I have no problem with what this fellow does. But he's been rescued twice now. Doesn't that tell him anything about his judgement?

[mrjames1]

New rule: Rescued once, no more climbing for you.

The poor wife and kids now pay for his folly

[KIVPossum]

14 degrees and sunny in Ljubjana today. Bet he wishes he was home.

[samm120]

he didnt learn from the first experience­..........­........it is a lot easy to climb Mount Everest than to climb Nanga Parbat or any K2 mountains.­..........­all the north pakistan is just absolute stunning, arguably the most beautiful scenery in the world.....­..........­..........­.....Pak army does carry out lot of dangerous rescue operations and missions in these areas, brave people.............

[gifu]

1 heli supported rescue at almost 20,000 feet? If you can't figure it out after that one, so be it.

[Aarky]

I hate to sound so cruel, but this man almost sounds like the man who filmed brown bear up close in Alaska...without any bear mace or electric fence around his tent. He became too complacent and a bear killed him and his girlfriend and also dined on him before the rangers shot the bear. The message is, when you become too self assured and also complacent, with no back-up plan, mother nature will get you...big time.

[Spiky Kitten]

Solo climb - I'll bet he is re-thinking that idea.

[escribacat]

I watched a program where a bunch of climbers went right on by a man who was hurt and d y i n g. They said he couldn't be saved (and they needed to get to that summit). Are they just pretending to talk about rescuing this fellow?

[Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger]

Read "into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. At 29,000 feet, there's no helping you. Either you get yourself off the mountain, or you die. Helicopters can't go over 20,000 feet.

[morrisab]

Actually, read "The Climb" by Anatoli Boukreeuv. It's amazing how much rescuing can go on when someone cares enough to actually, you know, TRY. Then read "The Other Side of Everest" by Matt Dickinson; compare and contrast.

And try to stick to recommending climbing books that go to some trouble to be accurate. Jon Krakauer has never admitted or apologized for the facts he got wrong in his Outside article and, later, in "Into Thin Air."

[flamflurm]

Vertebrate climber.

[toomuchtolose]

I hope he lives, but I also hope no one else is injured or killed trying to save him.

[PepeLepew]

This is a real photo of Langtang Lirung:

http://www.agiletrek.com/images/mount/mt_langtang_lirung.jpg

[liberalbug]

That's a beautiful mountain. I'd sure hate to be stuck up there in mid-November, injured.

[escribacat]

Gorgeous. Have you climbed it, P? I remember you said you were a climber.

[PepeLepew]

O M G, no.
Half Dome was my Everest...

[johnnygoodwud]

not a smart move hiking alone. you would think he learned that the last time he got stranded.

[Ramirez]

The word is spelled "VETERAN."

Come on, HP. Are you people even trying?

[PepeLepew]

Yeah, and that's Mount Everest, not Langtang Lirung....

[elcerritan]

Co-sign.

I've commented on this before, but HP is getting increasingly sloppy. It's embarrassing. I think a few people need to be sent to "editor's school," or just "school," period - or possibly fired. This shouldn't be "Amateur Hour," you know. Sheesh.

[escribacat]

LOL. No kidding.