Search for Micah Dash Over — Rescue Team Returning to U.S.

Extremely dangerous avalanche conditions coupled with continuing bad weather and daily rockfall led a rescue team of Chinese and American climbers to call off the search for Micah Dash, the remaining missing climber on 21,712-foot (6,618-meter) Mount Edgar in western China. Dash, as I reported here previously, was attempting a new route on Edgar with Jonny Copp and cameraman Wade Johnson.

The bodies of Copp and Johnson were discovered last week in avalanche debris in a gully below the mountain’s southeast face. Both were removed from the mountain a couple days ago and transported to the town of Moxi for a final trip back home to the United States. The search team, besides finding the climbers remains, also found personal belongings and equipment from the climbers, including Dash, leading them to believe that he is still buried in the snow. A future search for Dash after the impending monsoon season and when the weather and avalanche conditions stabilize has not been ruled out.

The experienced search team of climbers were Americans Pete Takeda, Steve Su, Eric DeCaria, and Nick Martino and Chinese climbers Guo Jie, Li Zong Li, Ci Luo Yan Ding Ding, and Zhou Peng. These men deserve accolades for their efforts. Any search and rescue mission in the high mountains is dangerous and extremely hazardous. Right now the Americans are en route to the Chinese city Chengdu for a flight back to the United States. When they return, more information will undoubtedly come out about what might have happened to the three climbers.

While it’s no good to speculate what might have gone wrong on Mount Edgar right now, hopefully a possible timeline of what happened will emerge. Apparently the Chinese did recover some of the filming equipment carried by Wade Johnson and any video or photographs in that equipment could determine how high the climbers reached on the face and when the fatal avalanche might have occurred.

Photograph above: Micah Dash sits atop Shafat Fortress after its first ascent in 2008 in Kashmir, India. Photograph courtesy Jonny Copp