14 DAY TRIAL // An American climber thought he was going to die after falling some 70 feet (21.3 meters) into a crevasse on a Himalayan mountain in Nepal with no hope of rescue, but he somehow managed to climb out and raise the alarm.
Geography professor John All from Western Kentucky University was carrying out climate research on Mount Himlung in the Himalayas when the terrifying incident happened on Monday. It took him six ours to crawl out of the ravine and another three hours to reach his tent, and luckily survived to tell the story despite broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and multiple injuries.
According to his account, All crawled out of the deep hole using his ice axe, but because of his injuries he could only move very slowly. He reportedly broke five ribs and his right arm, dislocated his shoulders, suffered internal bleeding and injuries to his face and knees. And because he spent some many hours shivering in cold weather, he also suffered from frostbitten fingers.
He was rescued the next morning after posting a desperate plea for help on Facebook.
“Please call Global Rescue. John broken arm, ribs, internal bleeding. Fell 70 ft crevasse. Climbed out. Himlung camp 2. Please hurry,” he wrote on the American Climber Science Program page.
But although his message was forwarded and members of the group alerted rescuers, All spent the night in pain in his tent because emergency crews could not be sent right away.
“Global Rescue can’t find a helicopter so I’ll try to survive tonight. So cold. Pain meds running low. Longest night ever,” a further status update read.
The 44-year-old professor, from Bowling Green, Kentucky, was finally located the next morning when the weather cleared, 19 hours after his fall. He was rushed to a hospital in Kathmandu, where he spent the night in intensive care, Daily Mail informs.
“I thought I was going to die, there was no way out. I was alone,” All said of his ordeal. “I landed on an ice ledge probably 3 feet [0.9 meters] wide which saved me from falling further into the crevasse.”
All is a professional alpinist and experienced climber who scaled Mount Everest in 2010. He and his team were on Mount Himlung in an expedition to collect ice and snow samples to study the level of pollution and the rate of glaciers melting in the area.
He now plans to stay a few weeks at his hotel in Katmandu to recover from his wounds before heading to Peru for another climbing trip.
During his ordeal in the crevasse, the professor recorded a brief video which he later shared on his Facebook page. You can see it below, but