Russian Climber Declared Missing on Kyrgyzstan’s Treacherous Peak Pobeda

Vice president of the Russian Mountaineering Federation Alexander Pyatnitsyn has stated that Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsyna, stranded on Kyrgyzstan’s Peak Pobeda with a broken leg, was officially declared missing.

“She will be considered missing until a rescue team reaches her,” Pyatnitsyn told reporters, The Caspian Post reports via Kyrgyz media.

“Will there be further attempts to save her? Right now, rescue operations could be carried out by anyone, so I don’t know what will happen. Perhaps many people will go there with drones and search for her all winter,” he noted.

Earlier, Dmitry Grekov, head of the South Inylchek Base Camp, said efforts to rescue Nagovitsyna had been suspended. “This was the last hope, but now the search will likely be officially closed. Initially, they wanted to check with a drone; if she showed no signs of life, the rescue would be called off. If she were alive, they would attempt a helicopter extraction, but that’s not guaranteed. The altitude is 7,100 meters,” he explained.

Italian climbers, originally scheduled to fly to the site on August 25, canceled plans due to worsening weather and safety risks. Grekov said that no one has ever been evacuated from the altitude where Nagovitsyna is stranded.

The Kyrgyz Defense Ministry previously conducted several rescue missions, safely bringing down 62 climbers and tourists. Nagovitsyna broke her leg on the route, leaving her unable to descend.

Climbing experts say she had minimal chance of survival-11 days exposed to temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius, constant storm-force winds, and near-zero visibility. She is presumed dead from hypothermia and oxygen deprivation.

At 7,439 meters, Peak Pobeda is one of the world’s most challenging mountains, claiming over 80 climbers’ lives.