Élisabeth Revol

Élisabeth Revol (born April 29, 1979) is a French high-altitude climber. In January 2018 Revol became the first woman to have climbed Nanga Parbat in Pakistan in winter; on the descent she was heroically rescued, while her teammate Tomasz Mackiewicz died, an event which was widely covered by the mainstream press. Having narrowly avoided amputation of her left foot she traversed consecutively Mount Everest and Lhotse in May 2019.

Élisabeth Revol
A French high-altitude climber
Born
Drôme area, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationMountaineer

Early life

Revol was born in the Drôme area, France and her parents introduced her to mountaineering in the Ecrins massif. She began climbing at age of 19 and became a physical education teacher.[1]

Career and expeditions

In 2007 Revol went on her first expedition to Nepal. In 2008, she made a solo ascent of the three Himalayan mountains Broad Peak – Gasherbrum I – Gasherbrum II – within a 16-day period and without the aid of oxygen; her climbing partner Antoine Girard had fallen ill. In 2009, she attempted the Annapurna with Martin Minarik, but retreated in a storm on Roc Noir (7,485 m); her climbing partner died.[1]

In 2012, she participated in the Adventure Racing World Championships in France, which includes navigation, trekking, mountain biking, paddling and climbing.[1] Revol joined Daniele Nardi in the winter of 2013, and Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz in the winter of 2015 to climb Nanga Parbat, known as the "Killer Mountain", in Pakistan; in 2015 Mackiewicz and Revol reached 7800m, and turned back because of bad weather. In January 2018, they succeeded to climb the Nanga Parbat in winter as the second team ever. Revol became the first woman to have climbed Nanga Parbat in winter.[2]

On 23 May 2019, she reached the summit of Mount Everest using oxygen from 8500m onward and climbed the adjacent Lhotse the following day..[3]

Rescue

On 25 January 2018, during her fourth attempt of a winter ascent of Nanga Parbat, and Mackiewicz's seventh attempt, they reached the summit from the Diamer side.[4][5] Revol noticed Mackiewicz's bad condition and started taking him down. According to Revol, he could not walk, see or communicate and was bleeding profusely from his mouth and nose; he had developed severe frostbite and snow blindness. She secured him from the wind in a crevasse, called for help and started the long descent.[5][6]

Another Polish team which attempted the nearby summit of K2 was called for rescue. On 27 January 2018 the rescue team, including Denis Urubko and Adam Bielecki, were dropped off by a helicopter of the Pakistani military[7] at 4,900 m (16,100 ft) on the mountain, and climbed 1,200m through the night rescuing Revol at 6,026 m (19,770 ft). Mackiewicz, who was believed to be in his tent at around 7,400 m (24,300 ft), could not be rescued due to bad weather and a snowstorm.[8][5] She weighed just 45 kg when the rescue team managed to evacuate her, and suffered from severe frostbite to her hands and left foot.[9] Revol was later carried to Islamabad for treatment,[8] but was able to avoid any amputations.[10]

Personal life

Revol's partner is Jean-Christophe.[11] She is employed by Valandré, a high altitude down equipment manufacturer in Belcaire.[3]

References
  1. "Portrait of Elisabeth Revol". Blue Ice. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  2. Stefan Nestler (9 February 2018). "Adventure Sports - DW.COM". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  3. Montagnes (8 June 2019). "Élisabeth Revol à l'Everest : Valandré rectifie le tir sur l'oxygène". Montagnes Magazine (in French). Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  4. "Stranded French climber flown from Pakistan's 'Killer Mountain'". BBC.
  5. "Polish rescue team finds French climber on Pakistan's "Killer Mountain"". Reuters. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  6. "The Killer Mountain May Kill Aagain". dreamwanderlust.com. 31 January 2018.
  7. "Climbers rescue French woman stranded on Pakistan's 'Killer Mountain". The Guardian. 28 January 2018.
  8. "Killer Mountain' Strands Climber as Another Is Rescued". National Geographic. 29 January 2018.
  9. Martin Walsh (5 February 2019). "Elisabeth Revol Describes Nanga Parbat Rescue". Explorersweb. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  10. "Élisabeth Revol gravit l'Everest un an après avoir failli perdre la vie dans l'Himalaya". La Depeche (in French). 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  11. "Rescuers call off efforts to save Polish climber missing on 'killer mountain' Nanga Parbat". Dawn.com. 29 January 2018.
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