THE bodies of five climbers who vanished in a high‑altitude avalanche last November have been discovered in eastern Nepal after seasonal snowmelt exposed human remains near Yalung Ri base camp.
Police say recovery efforts are underway but have already been hampered by worsening weather.
Residents in the Rolwaling Valley first spotted the remains on Thursday and alerted authorities, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Lama. A police team was flown towards the site on Friday, but deteriorating conditions forced them to abandon the retrieval attempt.
“The bodies could not be brought back because of poor weather conditions. They will be retrieved as soon as the weather improves,” Mr Lama told reporters in Nepal .
The discovery comes nearly nine months after the climbers were swept away by an avalanche on November 3 last year while ascending Yalung Ri – a 5,630‑metre peak used by mountaineers to gain high‑altitude experience. Seven people were carried off the mountain, including five foreign climbers and two Nepali guides. Two bodies were recovered shortly after the disaster, but unstable snow and the threat of further avalanches made continued search efforts too dangerous.
The bodies of two climbers – Italian Paolo Cocco and French mountaineer Christian Andre Manfredi – were recovered two days after the fatal incident.
Police believe the newly-exposed remains are those of the five climbers who have been missing since the avalanche, though formal identification will only take place once recovery is complete. The missing are understood to be Italian-Canadian climber Marco Di Marcello, Markus Kirchler of Italy, Germany’s Jakob Schreiber, and Nepali mountain guides Padam Tamang and Mere Karki
The Rolwaling Valley, lying between the Gaurishankar and Melungtse peaks, is one of Nepal’s most remote and avalanche‑prone regions, home to several Sherpa communities and known for its challenging terrain and unpredictable weather systems .
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