A society made up of two helicopter companies in Switzerland and Nepal allows daring rescues the heights of Mount Everest and other peaks Himalaya. Finally constituted
(After a test phase) in the month of April 2010, this service could mark a milestone in the salvage, but still has the approval of all members of the community of climbers.
A team of Swiss company Air Zermatt waited until June 2010 in the Khumbu region a Nepalese helicopter Fishtail Air signs . Upon request, the group can fly up to 7,000 meters. to come to the aid of an injured climber, being the last April 28, 2010 its first baptism of fire, in performing the Fixed Rope longest in the world in the Annapurna (See HERE .)
What the Swiss pilot and rescue your team can do, (but not groups of Nepal at that time), a climber is recovering from a steep costs without landing zone. To do use a cable known as ' fixed rope' or 'human sling', where rescue injured climber tied to the line and then both are high by helicopter and taken while hanging up the nearest landing medical assistance available.
became one of the pioneers of this type of rescue when it was first used in the 1970 athlete to pick one of the most difficult summits in Switzerland with almost vertical slopes, the north face Eiger .
Gerold Biner Zermatt Air told swissinfo.ch that of the 1,500 rescue missions that take place every year in Switzerland about a third are "String operations Fixed with human cargo. "
Partnering with Fishtail Air arose partly from the successful Air Zermatt maneuver in November 2009, to recover the body of the Slovenian climber Tomaz Humar who died high on the slopes of Lirung Langtang Nepal. Special training
Fishtail Air Five people visited Zermatt in early 2010 and could carry out missions with Air Zermatt to learn the operation of the system. Biner has no doubts about the ability of the Nepalese pilots, however, said that the fixed rope missions require special training. "Flying around with a cable hanging from the helicopter and a human being at the end of the line, makes it harder for the pilot of the aircraft," Biner said.
Finally on 8 March, two members of Fishtail Air, Cpt. Ashish Sherchan and Mr. Anil Kumar Basnet (both Nepalese) are sent to Zermatt in Switzerland to take a certification course and fixed rope this spring in the Swiss Alps. Biner
considers that the presence of the crew of Air Zermatt in Nepal and could begin to create demand among companies active backpacking, hiking in the Himalayan nation.
Save Lives
"Undoubtedly, this type of rescue will save more lives because people with minor injuries or health problems such as altitude sickness can be helped, "wrote Kari Kobler, leader of a Swiss expedition found last year on Everest, in an email sent from a height of 6,400 mts.
Save Lives
"Undoubtedly, this type of rescue will save more lives because people with minor injuries or health problems such as altitude sickness can be helped, "wrote Kari Kobler, leader of a Swiss expedition found last year on Everest, in an email sent from a height of 6,400 mts.
however, thinks this kind of bailout will not take place at the same scale as in the Alps due to the greater distances between the heliports and climbing areas . This, besides the fact that many customers do not have insurance to cover the cost of a rescue helicopter.
's crime adventure
The veteran mountaineer, physician and writer, Oswald Oelz not trust the new development.
"You kill the adventure part," said Oelz swissinfo.ch. "In a few years could be as it is now on the north face of the Eiger. If he gets into trouble, just call the helicopter. In the past, you had to fight to leave or die. "
Oelz is a researcher in the field of acute mountain and has to his credit many first ascents and difficult climbs. In 1978 he was one of the two doctors Delivery who took part in the ascent of Everest for the first time without the aid of supplemental oxygen, Reinhold Messner by and Peter Habeler .
Oelz said the idea that a helicopter can come to the rescue may create a false sense of security "and that the aircraft can not fly in any weather condition. He added that the increasing use of helicopters could do the Everest so popular that it could become a 'Disneyland', the same could happen to Matterhorn in Switzerland.
Biner Oelz agree that the helicopters could be a regular feature at the top of Everest in a short time. The pilot of Air Zermatt and new president of IKAR-CISA, said that helicopters are now able to float around at 9,000 meters. (Everest is 8,840 m high), but not yet certified to exceed the 7,000 meters.
© 2011 GOER
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