Officers from the Guardia Civil post in Trevélez (Alpujarra) with the help of a local, rescued a mountain climber who got lost on the Sierra Nevada, owing to the fog and bad weather.

It was around 19.50h on Saturday the 26th that the Guardia Civil HQ in Granada received an alert from 112 to say that a mountaineer was lost up above Trevélez, so they instructed the Trevélez post to search for him.

The climber had set out from Peña Partida, which is within the municipality of Güéjar Sierra, that same day. However, as he ascended the weather changed for the worse, with thick fog, rainfall and even snowfall. Exhausted he ended up in the area of the Barranco Chordí now within the municipality of Trevélez.

He phoned for help to 112 and gave his position so that he could be located. Meanwhile, the officers in Trevélez contacted a local who knew the area well as he has a livestock farm nearby and who agreed to help them.

The rescuers set off ascending along the Río de Trevélez and after covering some six kilometres, they came across the man, sheltering under a tree. Rain was falling heavily and the temperature was just under 4ºC.

He told them that he had been wandering through the mountains for about nine hours before he called for assistance. The rescuers then guided him, supporting him, down to the village of Trevélez in the early hours of Sunday.

Finally, as the climber had left his car in Güéjar Sierra, they found him accommodation for what was left of the night, so that one of his family could pick him up from there later in the day.

Editorial comment: who, in their right mind, thinks that it would be a good wheeze to venture up into the Sierra Nevada in these conditions, not matter how well equipped they are? The ski resort might be a safe area but the rest is not.

(News: Trevelez, Alpujarra, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Sierra Nevada, Güéjar Sierra, Mountain Climber, Lost, Exhausted, 112, Guardia Civil, Rio Trevélez