KATHMANDU: The body of famed Slovenian mountaineer, Tomaz Humar, 40, was salvaged through an unusual rescue operation by Fishtail Air today. He had been missing in the mountain since November 10. Fishtail Air’s AS 350 B3 helicopter brought back Humar’s body from Mt. Langtang Lirung (7,234m).

The rescue operation was conducted under the strict supervision of Bruno Zelk, chief rescue officer of Switzerland-based Heli Zermat company. Rescue pilot Robert Andenmatten and a young climber, Simon Anthamatten, were members of the team.

This is first time in the history of Nepalese mountaineering that an evacuation was done using ropes. Pilot Andenmatten thinks that it is usual in the mountains of Europe and they would be willing to help their Nepalese counterparts through exchange of technology in such missions so that mountaineers can be rescued and evacuated from extremely difficult terrain and conditions. “This would not have been possible without an AS 350 B3 helicopter,” said Zelk.

Late Tomaz Humar was considered one of the best and popular climbers of his day. He climbed Mt Dhaulagiri from the south side, Pumori from the south, Amadablam from the north ridge and Mt Nuptse from the north face. His reputation as a mountaineer who took up most challenging routes on mountains all over the world in Alpine-style solo climbing will live on.