Alpinism: Horia Colibasanu interrupts expedition on Dhaulagiri Peak

Romanian mountain climbers Horia Colibasanu, Marius Gane and Slovak climber Peter Hamor have decided to interrupt their attempt to open up a new route, a world first, on the northwestern face of the Dhaulagiri Peak (8,167 m), after escaping an avalanche. The three adventurers reached, on Tuesday, the safety of the Base Camp of Dhaulagiri Peak (Nepal), after being caught in their tents by an avalanche on Sunday night (May 9 to 10). The avalanche lasted less than a minute and buried them under a meter-thick layer of snow, transforming the ascent into a race against time for survival, according to a release sent to AGERPRES. "It never happened to us for the avalanche to come from the side. At a certain point probably the snow fell on the ice wall that was protecting us. It simply crushed us inside. We tried to fight it to keep a small pocket of air around our mouths. (...) The avalanche stopped. It was completely dark and, though we were all three in the same tent, I couldn't head my colleagues. It fell silent. All I could do was search as fast as possible the knife in my chest pocket. I knew that this is the procedure for avalanches over tents. If you do not cut the cloth, you cannot exit. I felt that the air was running out. I took out the knife, cut the tent. I had to push through that meter of snow to get out. I was full of adrenaline. I managed to come out with a bandaged arm, the arm with the knife (...) to breathe," said Colibasanu. The incident happened at 6,800 m, on the northwestern face of Dhaulagiri peak (8,167 m). Horia Colibasanu participated in 22 international expeditions during his career, being decorated in 2017 with the most important distinction that the President of Romania can grant: The National Order of the Star of Romania, in rank of Knight. He is the only Romanian mountaineer that received the distinction "Spirit of Mountaineering," on the part of the British Alpine Club, the first and most prestigious mountaineering club in the world.AGERPRES(RO - author: Mihai Tenea, editor: Mircea Lazaroniu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)