The body of a 65-year-old Austrian woman was found on the morning of the 29th, close to the mountain refuge Carihuela, near the Veleta peak. She had gone missing the day before.
The woman, who lived in Madrid, had gone missing during a night with temperatures of 16ºC below; owing to a blizzard, gusting up to 100 kph, the wind-chill must have made the temperature even lower.
The woman had been in a group of four people (two women and two men) who had decided to climb to the Pico de Veleta from the university hostel in the Sierra de Nevada around 08.30h, where they had breakfasted. People at the hostel advised them not to attempt it.
Although they were well kitted out, soon after setting off the weather turned for the worse: blizzard, fog and very low temperatures. The other woman in the group was the first to turn around and head back down to the ski station. With growing alarm that her companions had failed to appear, she contacted the emergency services.
The Guardia Civil mountain-rescue team, Sereim began the search at 13.20h and a few hours later they came across one of the men, who had also decided to turn back. He told the rescuers that the other two had decided to continue with their endeavour to reach the peak.
One of the two returned climbers managed to contact the other two, who informed him that they had had an accident – a gust of wind had literally knocked them off their feet and down a slope.
Seven members of Sereim spent the afternoon and night searching the area, putting their own lives in danger. They were joined by specialised staff from the ski station. Attempts to establish further telephonic contact failed.
It was around five in the morning that the driver of a tracked snow-plow from the station found the man, who was suffering from frost bite to his hands and feet. He had survived because he kept moving rather than sitting down.
As said above, Monica M.M. was found dead later on that morning, having died from hypothermia despite protective clothing.
(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia – Photo: David Adamson)