Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped thousands of feet up a mountain but a chilling video revealed the moment the climber said she was ‘not scared to die’
A chilling final video of a climber, who is feared dead after she became trapped at 23,000ft up a mountain with a broken leg, has been revealed.
Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan with little food and water for nearly two weeks – and efforts to rescue her have now been abandoned. The adventurer is stuck at 22,965ft on the mountain with a summit height of 24,406ft, after she became injured on August 12. Her climbing partner helped her as much as they could before moving back down the mountain to get help for the Russian.
A video of Natalia from a documentary caught the moment the mountaineer said she was “not afraid to die”.
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The well-known climber was seen moving on drone footage as recently as five days ago but horror weather conditions have meant efforts to save her have all failed. Temperatures have plummeted to minus 23C and experts have said it would be a miracle if she was rescued.
A brave climber tragically died while trying to help the injured woman. Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia, 49, brought a sleeping bad, tent, food, water and a gas cooker to Natalia but later died on the mountain from prolonged exposure to low oxygen and hypothermia. On Friday, a final effort to climb to her was abandoned just 3,600ft below where she is stuck.
A clip from a 2022 documentary “Stay with Khan Tengri. Tragedy on the mountain” caught the climbers haunting words about death and the risks of her passion. In the documentary Natalia said she was “not afraid to die. I was afraid to be disabled”.
Natalia was referencing an expedition in August 2021 where she and her husband went up Khan-Tengri Peak, close to the border of China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
At one point her husband appeared to have issues as he kept on falling on one side, could not site and had slurred speech.
Rescuers urged Natalia to go down the mountain to get help but Natalia said “I will not leave him alone”. She added: “I will not leave my husband. He is completely helpless, I give him a drink.” It was later revealed her husband had suffered a stroke at 22,638ft.
In the documentary Natalia said: “You know, I was not afraid to die. I was afraid to be disabled, that I will get frostbite, they will take away my arms and legs, and what will I do! In fact, this is it. Yes, this is the worst punishment. This is what worried me a lot and that we die – no.”
Rescuers reached the pair and tried to help her husband off the mountain but needed more supplies. When the teams returned they could not locate the mountaineer and a report later ruled he could have broke from his ropes and plunged down the mountain.