RACE AGAINST TIME

Top Russian Climber Plunges Into Crevasse on Himalayan Mountain

Nadezhda Oleneva was nearly 20,000 feet up the mountain when she fell.

A top Russian climber is missing after falling into a crevasse while attempting to scale Mt Dhaulagiri, the world’s seventh-highest mountain. Nadezhda Oleneva, 38, and two others were working to scale the mountain without a Sherpa or supplemental oxygen when she fell, The Himalayan Times reports. Oleneva was nearly 20,000 feet up the mountain at the time of the fall, with GPS indicating she took a nearly 1,600-foot plunge. Search efforts are underway. Russian Ambassador to Nepal Alexey Novikov told the TASS news agency that Oleneva, a Russian mountaineering champion, was taking part in an expedition organized by the country’s Sports Ministry and the Russian Mountaineering Federation.