The surviving Bosnia and Herzegovina mountaineer Haris Adilović said that the tragedy on Mount Elbrus, in which two members of the expedition from Bosnia and Herzegovina lost their lives, was the result of a wrong weather forecast and not insufficient preparation or experience of the team members.
In an interview with the Russian media, Adilović pointed out that they were experienced alpinists who were well trained and knew each other very well, but that the weather conditions on the mountain were much more difficult than expected.
According to him, the problems started at the very beginning of the ascent. The expedition did not have a professional guide, and one of the participants began to freeze seriously due to extremely low temperatures, which is why the first group decided to stop the ascent.
“The second group continued climbing, but after an additional 100 to 150 meters we also decided to give up. When we secured the ropes on part of the route and climbed a little higher, we saw that the conditions at the top were even worse. That’s when we made the decision to return,” said Adilović.
He emphasized that the members of the expedition were experienced mountaineers who train regularly.
“In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we train almost every weekend in the mountains that are very accessible to us. That’s why I believe that the cause of the tragedy was not bad preparation, but a wrong weather forecast,” he said.
Let us remind you that the call for help to the mountaineers who remained on Elbrus was sent on July 25, after which eight members of the rescue services went to the field. Mountaineers from Bosnia and Herzegovina started the ascent independently, without hiring a professional guide.
Of the four members of the expedition, two survived – Haris Adilović and Kemal Vidimlić, while two of their colleagues lost their lives.
The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation for Kabardino-Balkaria announced that unfavorable weather conditions continue to make it difficult to retrieve the bodies of the dead alpinists, writes Zenith.
From the Mountaineering Club “Vedro” Zenica, whose members were the mountaineers who died, they said earlier that they were not tourists, but experienced mountaineers who went to Elbrus as part of a planned expedition.
