Five Russian climbers die when attempting to conquer Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal

The bodies of five Russian climbers who went missing on October 6 while attempting to conquer Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal have not been raised from the abyss still. Rescuers plan to descend to the climbers using a winch as it is impossible for the helicopter to land in the mountainous area.

The climbers — Alexander Dusheiko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko and Dmitry Shpilevoy — went for a sports climb without oxygen on September 1. They were supposed to finish their adventure on October 5. All were checked for health condition before the climb, no abnormalities were revealed. Each member of the group paid from 2,000 to 2,800 dollars for the climb.

Vice President of the Federation of Mountaineering and Rock Climbing, Dmitry Chernyshev, told RIA Novosti that the climbers whose comrades died while climbing the mountain opened a fundraiser to recover the bodies, because the helicopter company asked for a huge amount of money for the operation.

The bodies were found at an altitude of about 6,000 meters. They must be recovered as soon as possible, otherwise they will be buried under avalanches, Chernyshev said.

The organizer of the expedition, Managing Director of I AM Trekking & Expedition Pemba Jangba Sherpa, said that communication with the group was lost at about 6:00 a.m. on October 6, when the climbers set out from the high camp to conquer the mountain.

The only survivor of the group in Nepal, climber Valery Shamalo, told gazeta.ru publication that he asked his comrades to go back due to weather conditions.

"The sun was shining, it was still and quite warm, but at night everything is completely different because of gusty strong winds. That slope is very difficult to climb: the snow there is not that good, it is difficult to stay on it if you fall,” he said.

Shamalo's partners said that they would try anyway. As a result, he was the only one of the group who decided to stay in the camp.

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Dhaulagiri located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres (26,795 ft) above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I (8,091 m (26,545 ft)) is 34 km (21 mi) east of Dhaulagiri. The Kali Gandaki River flows between the two in the Kaligandaki Gorge, said to be the world's deepest. The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center and the gateway for climbers and trekkers visiting both ranges as well as a tourist destination in its own right.