Death on Langtang Lirung: Mourning for Slovakian mountaineer Ondrej Huserka

The small spark of hope that the Slovakian climber Ondrej Huserka could be rescued alive from a crevasse on the 7,227-meter-high Langtang Lirung in Nepal has been extinguished. His Czech climbing partner Marek Holecek reported on Facebook that Ondrej died in his arms after falling into a crevasse on the descent on Thursday.

“I was rappelling down from (an) Abalakov thread. Ondra rappelled after me. What held fine for me proved fatal for him. (The) Abalakov thread cracked, and he fell into an ice crevasse. First, he hit an angled surface after an eight-meter drop, then continued down a labyrinth into the depths of the glacier. I rappelled down to him and stayed with him for four hours until his light faded. There’s nothing more to add.”

Spine apparently broken

Marek nevertheless gives a detailed account of his rescue attempt. When he called down into the crevasse, Ondrej replied after a while: “Help, damn it, help!” According to Holecek, he then abseiled deep into the pitch-black crevasse. He finally found Ondrej – wedged upside down in the ice, according to Holecek. It took him two hours to free Huserka from his position and turn him around. When he asked Ondrej to climb out of the crevasse, he only realized how badly injured the Slovakian was, writes Holecek: “His movements were oddly stiff. At first, I attributed it to the time he’d spent crushed, until I understood.”

Huserka believes that Ondrej broke his spine in the fall. “He couldn’t feel his legs, and his arms were paralyzed. His answers and awareness were totally confused. His star was fading as he lay in my arms… it lasted hours.”

Holecek: “Images will haunt me for the rest of my life”

Huserka and Holecek reached the 7,227-meter-high summit of Langtang Lirung on Wednesday. They had previously climbed the East Face of the mountain for five and a half days. The wall had never mastered before. Langtang Lirung, which lies around 50 kilometers north of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, is considered to be extremely prone to avalanches and rockfalls.

Ondrej Huserka was one of the best climbers in Slovakia. In 2019, he and his compatriot Jozef Kristoffy successfully repeated the route via the Southeast Ridge on the legendary granite giant Cerro Torre in Patagonia for only the eighth time.

“I’m burdened with the pain and images that I’ll carry to my last breath.” writes Marek Holecek. “I’m so sorry for Ondra, such a wonderful guy, a skilled climber, and a constant smile.” Ondrej Huserka was 34 years old.

Update 7 November: According to the Slovakian Mountaineering Association (JAMES), the Nepalese Pemba Gelje Sherpa, Chhiring Sherpa, Kusang Sherpa and Prakash Sherpa succeeded in recovering Ondrej’s body from the crevasse today after two days of efforts. The four mountain guides were dropped off at the accident site by helicopter.