Élisabeth Revol

Élisabeth Revol
A French high-altitude climber
Born	Drôme area, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Mountaineer

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.

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 April 2009, Revol attempted Annapurna with Czech climber Martin Minarik. After abandoning several attempts to gain Annapurna's main summit via the south-facing Bonnington route, Revol and Minarik reached Annapurna's East Summit via the 7 km ridge (altitude between 7,000 - 8,000 m) connecting the East summit to Roc Noir. Here, Revol and Minarik retreated, making no further attempt to gain Annapurna's main summit due to high winds. They returned to their high camp for the night, retracing their steps in the general direction of Roc Noir (7,485 m). The next day while continuing their descent, weather conditions deteriorated and Revol and Minarik were separated somewhere above 7,000 m. Unable to locate Minarik in the deteriorating visibility, Revol continued her descent alone, taking a (mostly) North/north-east facing col in the direction of Tilicho Lake. The following morning, after spending the night in a crevasse somewhere around 6000 m, Revol reported seeing Minarik descending the ridge at the top of the same col she took leading to Tilicho Lake. However the weather closed in rapidly and she lost sight of him. Out of food, water, fuel, and phone batteries, Revol continued her descent, eventually reaching the village of Manang from where she arranged for a rescue. A helicopter search was mounted (Fishtail Air); a multi-day ground search was also conducted by a small party of Sherpas. The ground search was abandoned after several days after becoming too dangerous to continue on with gaining further elevation in search of a sign of Minarik. Despite these extensive search efforts, no sign of Minarik was found. ^[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, then Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz in winter 2015, to climb Nanga Parbat, known as the "Killer Mountain", in Pakistan; Mackiewicz and Revol reached 7800m, but turned back because of bad weather. They attempted the climb again in January 2018, this time successfully, thus becoming only the second team ever to summit Nanga Parbat in winter. Revol also 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] Revol weighed just 45 kg when the rescue team managed to evacuate her, and suffered from severe frostbite to her hands and left foot.^[9] She was later taken 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[]

External links[]

• Elisabeth Revol, sauvetage au sommet 8 February 2018 (TV France 2) 28 min, interview with and broadcast about Revol´s rescue.