Chamonix Mountaineers Caught in Himalayan Avalanche

A devastating avalanche occurred on Mount Manaslu in Nepal yesterday killing nine mountaineers with several more still missing. Four of those caught in the avalanche were from the Chamonix valley and include legendary extreme skier Glen Plake who miraculously survived the slide.

Plake was in Nepal with Chamonix based ski mountaineers Remy Lecluse and Gregory Costa bidding to become the first team to ski from the summit of Mount Manaslu without oxygen. Lecluse and Costa are still missing along with Ludovic Challeat, another mountain guide from Chamonix.

The avalanche occurred early on Sunday morning triggered by a 600 - 700m wide serac fall above Camp 3 on the world's 8th highest mountain. NPR reports that there were 231 climbers and guides on 8,156m Mount Manaslu at the time of the avalanche from French, German and Italian expeditions. Since the Chinese restricted access to Tibet this autumn, many climbers who would have tried Cho Oyu or Shishapangma have instead opted to try Manaslu.

The search for survivors resumed on Monday morning.