Russian climber trapped on Kyrgyzstan’s highest peak as evacuation faces deadly setbacks

A Russian climber with a broken leg has been trapped on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan for 10 days as repeated evacuation efforts have failed. Fierce weather conditions have made it impossible to reach her on the highest summit of the Tengri Tagh range, which stands at a staggering 7,439 meters.

Nataliya Nagovitsyna has been waiting for rescue since August 12, when she fractured her leg while descending from the peak. She had begun the expedition with two other climbers from Italy and Germany. According to Russian media outlets, they were faced with worsening conditions and made the tough decision to leave her behind to rush for help.

They managed to reach her the next day. However, attempts to move her were thwarted by relentless storms. With temperatures plunging to minus 23 degrees Celsius, the pair spent a night with her before descending again. They left her with a sleeping bag, a stove, food, and a gas canister before retreating.

Unfortunately, the mission to assist her led to another tragedy as the Italian climber — identified as Luca — reportedly died on August 15 from suspected cerebral edema. His body also remains on the mountain at an altitude of 6,900 meters.

The Kyrgyz Ministry of Defence, which is leading the rescue, confirmed that a helicopter had tried to evacuate both the injured and the dead. One Mi-8 helicopter, however, lost control and was forced into an emergency landing, injuring the pilot and a rescuer. The stranded crew had to be retrieved by a second helicopter, a Mi-17V.

The military aircraft managed to reach only the base camp at 4,000 meters, while Nataliya and Luca remain much higher on the peak.

Alexander Yakovenko, the Head of the Classical Mountaineering Commission of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, spoke publicly about the situation:

“I’m fully aware of the situation — it’s bad. There’s practically no way to help, though people are trying. An unprofessional climber went up there, and it ended this way. People who climb there put their lives at terrible risk. One foreigner who tried to help her died, and two others came back.”

In another interview Yakovenko expressed doubt about her chances of survival: “No one is being evacuated from there. A girl without the necessary training or qualifications went with someone equally unqualified and unaware of what they were doing. This is a big problem, a tragedy. If someone manages to save her, it will be a miracle.”

This is not Nataliya’s first brush with tragedy in the Kyrgyz mountains. Her husband, fellow climber Sergey Nagovitsin, died there four years ago during an expedition they undertook together. While she was rescued at the time, his body was never recovered.

Kyrgyzstan is home to over 88 major mountain ranges, most merging into two massive systems: the Tengri Tagh (also known by its Chinese name Tian Shan, "Celestial Mountains") in the north and the Pamirs in the south. Both are among the five tallest peaks in the post-Soviet territories, all of them located in Central Asia.

While these mountains attract adventurers worldwide for their stunning landscapes, sudden weather shifts can turn climbs fatal. Just last week, the body of another Russian climber, Aleksei Yermakov, was recovered from Khan Tengri, while two Iranian tourists were reported missing on August 21.

By Nazrin Sadigova