“It’s a great story between mountaineers,” summarizes Jacques-Olivier, lieutenant-colonel and pilot of the Chamonix high mountain military group (GMHM). At the beginning of October, as part of an expedition that he prepares every year, he planned to climb the virgin summit of Chaukhamba III, in the Himalayas, in India. He finally found himself, with two other GMHM soldiers, rescuing a British woman and an American woman, two experienced mountaineers who were also attempting to climb this peak. They found themselves stuck at an altitude of 6,000 m for forty-eight hours.
Clovis, Jacques-Olivier and Vivien, these “three heroes”, told 20 Minutes the details of this unforeseen rescue, from the decision to go and help them – which could have cost them their lives -, to the reunion with the girls, the descent with them without equipment and the arrival of the Indian helicopter .
Find their testimony in the video at the top of this article.