May, 2011:

Fishtail Air was notified of a rescue mission at Kanchenjunga.  Ms. Clu Wieblich from America was on her way back after her successful attempt at the summit when she could find her way back no more due to snow blindness.

Our bird B3-AJI under command of Captain Deepak JB Rana and new team member Captain Lothar Hasler flew from Kathmandu to Lukla on the 21^st of May with the ambition of heading towards the Kanchenjunga region from where the client was supposed to be rescued. However due to marginal weather they had to halt at Lukla for the night. On the 22^nd of May they took off again from Lukla towards the Kanchenjunga (summit 8586 m) and overflew the region. They located the client during the overfly. Unfortunately as temperature rose which led to density variation which in turn leads to restrictions in the performance capabilities of the helicopter, our team had to discontinue the mission and fly back to Taplejung for the night. Early this morning,the 23^rd of May Captain Lothar Hasler alone flew up to the Kanchenjunga and rescued  Ms. Weiblich from about 20300ft and flew her To Lukla from where Swiss Captain Gregor Beer flew her to Kathmandu on our Bell JetRanger – AII.

Fishtail Air wishes her the earliest recovery.

Mt. Kanchenjunga in the Himalayan Range, is the third highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest and K2, with an elevation of 8,586 m (28,169 ft. Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations made by the British Great Trigonometric Survey in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest (known as Peak XV at the time) was the highest and Kangchenjunga the third-highest. Kangchenjunga was first climbed on May 25, 1955 by Joe Brown and George Band, who were part of a British expedition.

American rescued from Kanchenjunga

The search for the two lost French Climbers and one Sherpa at Manaslu continued today after they couldn’t find them on the 13th of May (to relate to previous news click here). Our B3 helicopter commanded by Capt. Gerold Biner,  Pilot Simone Moro & rescue specialist Bruno flew to Manaslu region and this time they found the dead body of the Sherpa.

The search for the missing others have been stopped for the time being.

We thank our team for the perseverance.

Fishtail on a human sling operation

Rescue from Manaslu Base Camp

On the 14th and 15th May, we had done aerial search on Thulagi Peak 7057 m (which is also called Mansiri Himal). The mountain had been scouted in the entire altitude, from the top till the bottom in all the faces. No life could be seen and today 15th we saw a tent at around 6300 m. It was dark green in color, and it was located on the south face. We landed and one of our rescuers jumped out from the helicopter and went inside the tent. There were sleeping bags and some equipment but no human sign. Few pieces of equipment have been taken as a proof of our research to be recognized by the family. When we took off from that place (6300 m) and we found some footprints above the tent, ending in a sharp ridge. We searched a lot below that ridge and above. We also went to other directions starting from other potential climbing routes but nothing could be found. From my climbing experience I’m quite sure that they fell in a crevasse or from that ridge because that place was really dangerous.

Report by: Capt. Simone Moro

Our rescue team near the climber's tent

Footprints of the Climbers

Tent used by Belarussian Climbers

Fishtail Air’s team led by Capt. Siddartha Jung Gurung and Air Zermatt’s pilot Gerold Biner made a search over the peak Tulagi, which is at the south of Mt. Manaslu to find the two Belarusian climbers who have been missing for the last couple of days. Although the search was made around coordinates provided, there was no trace of the missing climbers and the aircraft had to return due to bad weather.

Rescue site @ Manaslu

Fate can work wonders, who knew when they started with their Expedition on the 28^th of March to Mt. Manaslu that they would face such a day. Three French Mountain Climbers and two Sherpa had a successful ascent to the summit of Mt Manaslu (8163m). They lost each other during their descent due to weather reasons a few days ago.

Fishtail Air undertook the responsibility of the mission and early this morning as soon as the weather was clear, two of our fleet AS350B3 and the B2, AJI and AIW respectively equipped for a Sling operation commanded by Captain Siddartha Gurung, Captain Ashish Sherchan and Captain Gerold Biner (Air Zermatt) along with our rescue technicians Tshering Pande Bhote and Bruno took off from Kathmandu. Tshering, who has summited Mt. Everest numerous times, had been trained at Air Zermatt, Switzerland for Sling Rescue operation last year. Our team flew up to Manaslu region and found one Sherpa (Mingma Gyalje Sherpa) and one French of the expedition team of 5 at 5900m between Camp I and Camp II. The rescue was carried out by Sling operation.  Our team is going back to the Manaslu region again tomorrow to search for the missing two French climbers and a Sherpa.

Previously on the 5^th of May Fishtail Air recovered the long lost body of Mr. Park Haeng Su from Manaslu Camp II.  Mt. Manaslu (8,163m / 26,781ft) is situated in the central region of Nepal in the Gorkha massif is the eighth highest mountain in the world. Japanese were the first to climb Manaslu Mountain in 1956. There was a South Korean attempt in 1971 and in April 1972 an avalanche that killed five climbers and 10 Sherpas.

Human Sling Operation

Manaslu Peak and foot print in Summit Slope

1^st of May it was when Mr Rick Hitcha from the USA was taking his last breath at Everest base camp 2 while on his way up to the summit. He suffered a serious heart attack and succumbed to death that very day. Today the 3^rd of May Fishtail Air undertook the responsibility of bringing his body down to the capital. Our AS350 B3- AJI was flown up to Everest Base Camp 2 (6500m) under command of Captain Siddhartha J. Gurung from where he completed the mission without fail and the deceased’s body was directly flown to Lukla and then to Teaching Hospital at Kathmandu for necessary procedures.

Fishtail Air sends our deepest sympathy to the bereaved family.

Rescue from Everest Base Camp II

Fishtail Air @ rescue mission