How man survived 13 days after deadly fall on Mt Kenya

Kenya: Two young Austrian mountain climbers, Gurd Judmaier and his colleague Koni, set out to tackle Nelion, one of Mt Kenya peaks.

However, Judmaier slipped and fell into an 80-foot chasm. The accident gripped the nation and led to the creation of a rescue team for Mt Kenya.

The rescue operation that lasted a record 13 days claimed the life of a helicopter pilot in a fatal crash.

The incident happened 40 years ago on the first week of September 1970, after the climbers had approached the peaks from Sirimon Route, 14km after Nanyuki/Meru Road, and through the Sirimon Park Gate at 2,440 metres.

Judmaier and his team had just finished a round of the peaks to start the technical climb of Nelion when he slipped into the chasm.  He broke his leg and was exposed to the extreme weather conditions as rescuers made frantic efforts to reach him.

Medics feared he would develop gangrene as the bone-marrow of the broken leg was exposed.

Last week, Moses Mwai Mubiri, who was the guide in charge, narrated the events that had the nation’s attention focused on the snow-capped mountain.

Mubiri, now 70, said for 13 days, mountain rescue experts from all corners of East Africa could hardly manage to pull out Judmaier.

Robert Chamber, a Briton who is an expert in mountaineering, was among the first team of climbers to go down the 80-feet gorge where the injured man lay. He administered an injection to Judmaier to reduce pain, and provided him an emergency blanket to keep him warm.

The injured climber was supplied with food and essential drugs as he waited to be pulled out of the gorge.

On the eighth day after Judmaier’s fall, a young American pilot Jim Hasting and his bride, who were on honeymoon at Naromoro River Lodge, volunteered to help if a helicopter was made available.

Jim flew to Kami Hut and joined the rest of the rescue team to strategise how to undertake the mission. Mubiri said a 300 feet long rope was tied on the copter, while the other end was lowered into the hole to lift a stretcher bearing the injured climber to safety.

The warden of Aberdares and Mt Kenya National Park Bill Woodley, flew daily in his light aircraft dropping food supplies and cigarettes, but most of the items were just pulp when they landed on rocks. “Hasting found me sorting out broken bits and pieces of cigarettes from the bundles of food supplies dropped from the air by Bill. He assured me he would bring me cigarettes next morning when he came for actual rescue. I was anxiously waiting to smoke a real cigarette from a pack,” recalled Mubiri, who had already made friends with the young pilot.

The following morning at around 9am, the pilot flew to the mountain and followed the Mackinder Valley to reach Kami Hut. The rope was skillfully knotted to the belly of the copter to be released down into the chasm where Judmaier lay.

Copter crash

“I heard the copter rattling down Mackinder Valley. There was fog up the higher levels of the mountain. I saw the plane as Jim gained height to reach us at Kami Hut. He was communicating through his radio, which we all received. Just at that moment, his voice came loud and clear…. the helicopter has crashed! And immediately, I saw the copter crash into the rocks. One blade of the rotors came into contact with the rocks. It cracked the glass cockpit and beheaded the pilot as the helicopter disintegrated. Luckily, Hasting had managed to switch off the engine or else the copter would have burst in flames,” he said. 

Mubiri had been hired by the two climbers as guide for the six-day expedition. At the foot of Nelion, he released his clients to tackle it and returned to Kami Hut at 4,300 metres to wait for them. He reckons that at around 5pm as the two scaled the mountain, Judmaier on the lead, slipped and fell, into an 80-feet deep gorge.

When Koni noticed his colleague was in trouble, he released the rope or else he would have been dragged into the same pit by Judmaier. Koni made a desperate dash to reach Kami Hut to report the accident to Mubiri. He had fallen severally as he came down and sustained cuts and bruises on the hands.

Mubiri said: “When Koni reached Kami, he was scared panting with haste…Judmaier kaput (dead), he said in German language.” He understood the message to mean a bad accident and immediately swung into action. Mubiri set out for Top Hut to access Kenya Police Radio and send a distress message that there was an accident, and a casualty required urgent help.

 “It was after 5pm and I moved fast…I was fully acclamatised for the climb, and so, I managed to move swiftly. To reach Top Hut from Kami usually took ordinary climbers four hours…I made it in one and half hours. I used to go round the peaks in a day, a journey that took ordinary climbers four to six days,” he said. Mubiri reached Top Hut at around 7pm, and managed to enter through the top slit of the main door as the lower part was blocked by heavy snow.

“I made frantic efforts to reach any station, but no answer came until 8pm. I was answered by Moyale Police Station. I requested them to inform Nyeri of the accident. My next radio call was answered by Longonot Police at 8.30pm. I only managed to get Nyeri at 10pm, and put my message across,” he recounted.

It was now getting very cold, Mubiri realised then, he was poorly prepared while going up in haste as he had not carried anything to keep himself warm. He had not even taken a sleeping bag and contemplated returning to Kami Hut after passing over the distress message.

At 1am, he decided to descend to Kami Hut and reached there at 3am, and joined Koni. They were the only ones up there; the rest of the groups being at Mackinder Camp. The following day, they were joined by Woodley and Hastings.

Daniel Ndoria, a tour operator with William’s Travel, remembers the desperate moments when he and others laboured round the clock, ferrying climbing equipment up to Kami Hut. They supplied ropes, other gear and food to rescuers during their 13 days stay on the mountain.

The accident attracted local and international journalists who camped in Nanyuki town.

“I joined the team of journalists in Nanyuki Sportsman’s Arms Hotel then managed by proprietor Shamsu Din, who also owned the Secret Valley Lodge deep inside Mt Kenya Forest where tourists watched, under floodlights, leopards feeding on carcasses on a high platform,” said Mr Ndoria.

After the helicopter crashed on the ninth day, Mr Maier, the father of the injured man, chattered a plane with a ten-man team of mountain rescue experts from Austria, who landed at the Nanyuki Air Strip.

Mubiri said the team had sophisticated equipment he had never seen for more than ten years of his escapades on Mt Kenya. “The team arrived in the afternoon and quickly set camp at the moorland, the spot now named Judmaier’s Camp at 3,200 metres above sea level.

 “They came up and found me at Kami Hut at 3pm. I served them with green tea. Four of them immediately ascended to the spot where the climber was trapped. These people had a special emergency stretcher to carry the injured man from the gorge, and also had a tri-cycle with two rear wheels about six feet in height,” Mubiri narrated.

They bound Judmaier and placed him on their special emergency stretcher, and pulled him out to the surface of the route up Nelion. 

He was then transferred on to the special tri-cycle, which was used to scale down the mountain without his body coming into contact with the rocks.

Mubiri said, “They arrived back at Kami Hut carrying the injured climber at 9pm. Another guide Ndaiga and I, served Judmaier with tea. He was then taken down to now Judmaier Camp at 3,200 metres where he was loaded in a waiting helicopter to the Nanyuki Air Strip.”

The fatal spot was named Judmaier’s Camp, at 3,200 metres, in commemoration of the successful rescue operation. It was quite a challenge for Kenya and East Africa regarding the safety of the climbers flocking to Mt Kenya and Kilimanjaro.

The injured man was flown to Austria where he underwent specialised treatment. However, he lost one inch of his right leg. Judmaier came to Narormoro River Lodge with his wife, daughter and a friend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his accident. Mubiri has kept close contact with his client.