Hi,
Friend of mine asked me to post this message here.
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Ben Horne and his climbing partner are missing in Peru. If some of my South American friends know how to arrange a plane in Peru, please help! Ben and his parents helped us a lot at WS100, and he is a just such a great guy and an athlete. Info from Konstantin Stoletov:
My friend, Ben, and his friend Gil, went to attempt a first ascent on
the south face of Palcaraju Oeste in Peru and have been missing for over 5 days now.
A search team found Ben and Gil's tent, followed tracks up the glacier to the base of the route (a 800 m face of steep snow and ice), and spotted tracks on the descent ridge at about 5,800 m. That's all they know so far.
Friday morning, they plan to take a satellite image of the 5800m mark (at Lat: 9°22'19.71"S; Long: 77°23'4.67"W), and to have a group on foot climb the ridge to the 5,800m mark. (It may be too dangerous to proceed, since the ridge does have a section of very broken glacier.)
They desperately need to do a flyover of the area ASAP, but haven't been able to find a plane, despite major efforts to do so. If you know anyone in Peru who could lend or rent a plane, please contact Liora (202) 558-8346;lioradanan@gmail.com
Please forward this message. You may know someone who can help.
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We appreciate you for any help.
Thank you.
Nikolay.