Saving a man from the mountain

On duty we can expect to get any kind of distress calls. The embassy is contacted by Norwegians who have got themselves into all kinds of trouble. This time a famous climber had gone missing on Mount Everest, and it created quite a bit of drama since he went all alone, without oxygen and without sherpas. I first received the message that he was missing between 8300 metres and the top of the highest mountain in world. A search and rescue team was sent out and could not find him at any of the camps where they were hoping he might be. At least if he could be expected to still be alive. 24 hrs later, he was found by some sherpas and brought down to Advanced Base Camp on the Tibetan side. He was transported, in a pretty bad shape, on a yak:

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=543783

The embassy assisted the evakuation and tried first to get a helicopter to rescue him at 6500 m, but the weather was so bad that it couldn't take off. Not to lose time, friends from the Norwegian expedition http://www.everest09.no/ drove all night with him in a Jeep to the Tibet-Nepal border where we had an ambulance waiting to pick him up. They made a tremendous effort to save a life. And they succeeded!

It was an intense couple of days for me as well, and a huge relief to visit Jarle Trå at the hospital when he finally got there and could receive medical treatment. In the picture, I am with Lars Oma Erichsrud, Petter Nyquist and Stein Grønnerød. Much impressed!