Lost Climber

Our good friend Sarah Smith just forwarded this note from a mutual friend of ours:

A cousin of mine who is a mountaineer and in the Indian Army, was leading a team of climbers to climb Nanda Devi, a peak over 26,000 feet high in the Himalayas. They were hit with a blizzard and after that everyone was found except for five people, my cousin among them. He and the other four have been missing now for just over ten days and search teams, including dogs, have not been able to find them. The blizzard dropped 15 feet of snow in the region. My cousin is an amazingly courageous, intelligent and experienced young fellow (in his early thirties) and got the Indian equivalent of the purple heart for valor in battle some years ago. The record for finding someone alive in the Himalayas is 28 days, so we are all still hopeful. Perhaps they found shelter and are OK but cut off from the world due to the thick layer of snow. We do know they have provisions. On the other hand this peak is known to be a killer, and was described by Sherpa Tenzing (who first climbed Mt. Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary) as his most difficult climb.

If you are part of any prayer circle or believe simply in sending good vibes, I'm asking you to remember my cousin and his four companions in your thoughts and prayers. His name is Shyamal (middle a is long) Sinha.



Thanks, with all my heart.

Thanks to my summer Clarion student, Keyan Bowes, for providing this news link.