UKC

Who was this person?

Some decades ago, there was an expedition. I think to Everest. There was an accident, and one of their members fell. He did actually survive the fall, but fell down the wrong side of the mountain into Tibet which was closed then. His climbing partners quite naturally assumed he was dead, but he managed to make his way through Tibet, back to Katmandu, where he met up with his very surprised partners.

In reply to Annoying Twit:

Jean Bourgeois, if I remember correctly.

In reply to Annoying Twit:
Jon is correct. It was all a bit suspicious and various rumours circulated in Ktm. at the time as he`d previously 'gone missing' in a similar fashion many years before. For some reason I still have one of his plastic gear barrels

http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/01/14/Belgian-lost-two-week-on-Everest-rea...

In reply to jon:
Thanks very much. That's him! I wasn't thinking it was as recent as 1982.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19830117&id=twMhAAAAIBAJ&sj...

I was really annoyed at myself not being able to remember, and can't find my big Everest book. Now I'm off to find if he wrote an account of his adventure.

I didn't realise that was actually the second time he'd fallen off (or been swept off) a mountain and survived.

EDIT: Boy, is my memory bad: http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=451669

In reply to Annoying Twit:
'I didn't realise that was actually the second time he'd fallen off (or been swept off) a mountain and survived.'
- or maybe he just descended ? At the time many people in Ktm felt that the whole thing was all a bit odd and that he had just gone for a look around Tibet. A lot of what was claimed seemed unlikely.

In reply to L.A.:

Yes, this was discussed the last time I asked this in 2011 - which I'd completely forgotten about.

In reply to Annoying Twit:
You may find this interesting on his Afghan trips
http://www.moesmus-afghanistan.dk/?p=3340

(Although anyone wanting to view Afghan pics of that era should check out Roland + Sabrina Mischaud`s work)

In reply to Annoying Twit:

Everything I wrote there still stands. However, since then I actually met him!

Jean and I shared an author's book-signing table at the 2013 Piolet d'Or. His english is not great but we had a bit of a chat, partly via his wife, and he seemed more keen to talk about sailing and other non-Himalayan adventures. Lovely bloke.

If you use Facebook, you should be able to see a pic of him here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151538633299901&set=t.564889900&t...

He's in the middle, with extreme ski legend Anselme Baud on the right of the pic.