Fears For Australian On 'killer' Nepal Peak

The Age

Tuesday May 30, 2006

CONNIE LEVETT, KATHMANDU and DAN OAKES, With AAP

DAYS after Lincoln Hall's astonishing survival feat on Mount Everest, another renowned Australian climber is missing, feared dead after scaling another Himalayan peak.

Sue Fear, 43, regarded as one of Australia's top female climbers, is believed to have fallen into a crevasse while descending Nepal's 8163-metre Mount Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak, on Sunday.

Fear's fate remained uncertain last night, and family and friends in Sydney were still holding out hope that she could cheat death, just as her friend Hall did on Everest.

The only source of information on her was a garbled message from her climbing partner, Bishnu Gurung, a Sherpa who apparently survived the fall.

Her employer, World Expeditions, said Fear and Gurung had fallen into the crevasse after reaching the summit, and that Gurung had managed to climb out and call base camp.

Having stated earlier that a 43-year-old woman had died on Manaslu, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said later it could no longer confirm Fear's death.

A spokeswoman for World Expeditions, where Fear worked as a guide and consultant, said the reports of her death were premature and speculative. "I believe we're all working from the same garbled kind of message that came down the mountain," the spokeswoman said.

"Until such time that there is an emphatic medical determination on Sue's condition, or an emphatic witness to the fact that she fell a very long way, family and friends are taking the view that there is still hope."

Their hope has been fuelled by the survival of Hall, who was presumed dead after getting into trouble last Thursday on Everest. He was rescued on Friday after spending a night in the open in the "death zone" high on Everest, and taken down the mountain by Sherpas.

Yesterday he was en route to Kathmandu.

Sue Badyari, chief executive of World Expeditions and a close friend of Fear, said she was waiting anxiously for Gurung to return to the base camp with news.

A rescue party was being assembled if reports of Fear's death prove to be untrue.

But local trekking guides held out little hope. Man Mohan Singh Chhetri, of Asia Trekking, said that even if Fear survived the initial impact of the fall, it would be very difficult to conduct a rescue.

Weighing against her survival chances was the scarcity of other climbers on the mountain relative to the crowded and "very commercial" Everest. "She was one of the very last people on the mountain by the time she summited," Mr Mohan said.

Andrew Lock, the first Australian to scale Manaslu, said the onset of the monsoon season, which signals the end of the climbing season, meant warmer temperatures and rain, which can destabilise the snow and cause crevasses to open up.

Mr Lock said that although any rescue attempt would be hampered by the lack of climbers in the area, acclimatised Sherpas from Kathmandu were being flown to the region in anticipation of a rescue attempt.

"It isn't like Everest where you have this massive number of expeditions still at this time of year because the monsoon doesn't push them away.

"The big issue here will be finding any fit acclimatised climbers who could launch a rescue bid, because it takes about a month to acclimatise to that altitude, so you have to find someone who is already acclimatised, but who isn't exhausted from their own expedition."

It is believed it was Fear's second attempt on the summit of Manaslu following an aborted attempt more than a week ago. Known locally at Killer Mountain, Manaslu has claimed 52 climbers' lives.

Fear began climbing at age 23 and was the first Australian woman to reach the summit of Everest from the north side.

Together with Hall, she authored a book, Fear No Boundary, about her climbing adventures.

In a recent interview she spoke of taking calculated risks while scaling the world's highest peaks, and of not being reckless.

The Australian Geographic website reported that Fear was climbing Mount Manaslu via the standard north-east route, which had experienced excessive snowfalls and strong winds.

It said it was Fear's fifth climb of a peak more than 8000 metres high.

She had already climbed Pakistan's Gasherbrum II in 2004, Nepal's Everest in 2003, Tibet's Shishapangma in 2002 and Tibet's Cho Oyu in 1998.

Fear was awarded an Order of Australia medal in 2005. -- With AAP

AUSTRALIANS IN THE HIMALAYAS

MOUNT EVEREST: 8850m

1972: Tony Tighe dies after being hit by falling rocks.

1984: Melbourne medical student Craig Nottle and Fred From die scaling the treacherous West Ridge.

1994: Victorian Michael Rheinberger, 53, dies after reaching the summit.

2001: Adelaide man Mark Auricht, 37, dies of exposure.

2006: Believed dead, Lincoln Hall, 50, is rescued by sherpas.

ANNAPURNA: 8091m

2001: RAAF Squadron Leader Peter Szypula, Flight Sergeant Michele Hackett and her eightyear-old daughter, Kathleen Cassandra, killed in an avalanche near Annapurna.

CHO OYU:

8201m

2003: Victorian police inspector Paul Carr dies of a heart attack near the summit.

MOUNT

MANASLU:

8163m

2006: NSW woman Sue Fear, 43, is said to have died on the mountain.