Left for dead in a frozen tomb! Anurag Maloo’s incredible rescue from Annapurna’s crevasse by Polish mountaineers, Adam Bielecki and Mariusz Hatala, and a team of sherpas, reveals the power of human spirit and a daring mission against all odds.

Adam, your mind is playing tricks on you. This is not possible. Get yourself together and focus on the job. And I started to uncover him from the snow, but I saw that his chest was moving slowly. I saw him breathing. I was like WOW! He really is alive! As he was wearing his mountain gear and covered in snow, I couldn’t check his pulse. I opened his eyes to see if he would react to the headlamp light. I saw his eye blinking and his chest moving. That was a game changer—we were not there for recovering his body, we were there for a rescue mission. The first thing I tell Mariusz and the sherpa team, ‘Man, he’s alive’,” Adam Bielecki’s narration had everyone clapping in relief.

The heroic rescue made global headlines in April 2023, but there’s a world of difference in seeing heroes on screen and sitting in flesh and blood, humbly telling you about living through one of the most dangerous situations of their lives. Yes, brave men do walk on Earth or climb mountains.

The elite gathering at the Delhi residence of the Ambassador of Poland to India, had just watched the video of the incredible rescue of Anurag Maloo by Bielecki, Hatala, and an equally courageous team of sherpas.

honouring the heroes

The Embassy of Poland in India is celebrating 70 years of diplomatic relations with India. Marking this special occasion, was the event ‘Honouring the Heroes’ at the Delhi residence of the Ambassador of Poland to India. This inspiring real-life incident was an insight into the human spirit and its ability to transcend boundaries in emergencies.

Chargé d’affaires Sebastian Domzalski, Embassy of Poland in India, had invited the entire team for this special occasion: mountaineers Adam Bielecki and Mariusz Hatala, Anurag Maloo and his family, the Sherpas and doctors and the adventurous Dr Alex Kumar as the moderator who made it easy for everyone to understand the sheer grit it takes to scale the seemingly unscaleable.

Though aware of the dangers, Bielecki and Hatala say that this is the unsaid, unwritten bro-code of climbing. “We all help each other and if I want someone to help me, I should do the same.” This inspirational act makes one think about the magnitude of danger and man’s ability to overcome it in the face of the highest adversity.

A Climb Gone Wrong

A wrong choice of rope, a fatigued body due to lack of oxygen, and Anurag Maloo fell into the snow and rolled into a crevasse (a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier) at Mt Annapurna on April 17, 2023.

This 34-year-old native of Kishangarh in Rajasthan, works with Seedstars, a Swiss company, as an international development consultant. A visibly emotional Maloo recounted how he had begun to live the mountaineering dream—it was for his grandmother.

The primary goal was to create awareness about the importance of mountains, in sync with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. At every summit scaled, he felt his grandmother’s presence and it gave him the strength to climb the next one.

Maloo’s aim was to climb the 8,000er after summitting Mt. Ama Dablam (6,812m) and Mt. Nun (7,135m). He was on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 m and the seven highest points in all seven continents. Awarded the REX Karam-Veer Chakra, he became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India. Despite the best intentions, life always has a way of changing paths.

Mountains are treacherous terrains, and the towering Annapurna in Nepal more so. It is the 10^th highest mountain in the world, prone to avalanches, and with the highest fatality rates. Its highest peak is Annapurna I (8,091m), which was first summitted in 1950.

Reaching Camp 4, Maloo realised that he would not be able to climb further due to bad weather and lack of oxygen. He was forced to abandon the attempt to reach the Annapurna I summit.

While he remained in the front, his sherpa was at the back. During the descent, he chose the wrong rope with a loose hanging end, used for cargo, from which he slipped, fell 300m into the snow and rolled into a deep crevasse. Luckily, a Brazilian mountaineer and sherpa had seen the crevasse, which made it easier for the rescue team to locate the spot.

He fell into the crevasse around 2.30 pm on April 17, 2023. For two days, he recorded his thoughts on the GoPro. By the third day, the battery died and Maloo lost consciousness, covered in snow.

Maloo’s disappearance created havoc for his family. His brothers, Ashish and Sudhir, frantically talked with the expedition organiser Seven Summits Trek, the insurance company, and started a WhatsApp group for crowdfunding the rescue mission. They spoke with the Indian embassy and the government of Nepal mobilised the army as well. It took a superhuman strength to retain that singular focus as bad weather prevented the search teams from beginning their work for two full days. The clock was ticking.

Hope growing dimmer but determination unwavering, the Maloo brothers continued their efforts. Eventually, on April 20, 2023, the rescue mission succeeded.

The Rescue

Thanks to GoPro, adventure and travel enthusiasts have been able to share their experiences, especially useful for extreme sports. Bielecki, while rappelling into the crevasse also recorded his descent. The video, we saw, was nerve-wracking, requiring strength, agility and strong presence of mind. The rescuers, along with their sherpa team, were truly made of steel, walking right into the face of danger.

Adam Bielecki and Mariusz Hatala are well known in the mountaineering circles as extreme mountaineers and alpinists. Fate worked in Maloo’s favour, as the two happened to be in their tent at the Annapurna Base Camp when the call for help came.

Bielecki and Hatala aimed to climb the northwest face of Annapurna, alpine style. In mountaineering parlance, alpine climbing involves using advanced climbing skills such as rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes. It involves climbing in small lightly-equipped teams who carry all of their own equipment (no porters), and do all of the climbing (no sherpas or reserve teams).

The plan, however, derailed when loose rocks and lack of strong ice forced them to retreat. The two were resting in their tent at the isolated base camp when Chhang Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks asked them to help retrieve the fallen mountaineer. By then, he had been missing for three days and there was little hope of survival.

On April 20, 2023, at 6 am, the duo boarded the helicopter piloted by Sobit Gauchan. Their team comprised five sherpas as well. It took them three trips to be dropped off to the nearest point.

Maloo had dropped from an untied end of a fixed rope and fallen in a crevasse between Camp 3 and Camp 2, at around 6,000 m. The helicopter dropped them slightly above Camp 2. It took them 20-30 minutes to reach the crevasse, more like a bergschrund (a crevasse at the junction of a glacier or snowfield with a steep upper slope) under the couloir (a steep, narrow gully on a mountainside) leading to Camp 3. There were two delicate seracs (a pinnacle, sharp ridge, or block of ice among the crevasses of a glacier) by the couloir. This was the most dangerous part of Annapurna’s normal route, which all climbers tried to cross as fast as possible.  

At this point, the rescue team couldn’t control the dangers or the outcome.

Hatala devised a complex pulley system with the ropes. Again, fate played its card, he had carried his lone 70m rope, the other ropes were 60m long. That 70m rope turned out to be a blessing for Maloo.

Bielecki rappelled into the endless crevasse, supported by Hatala and the sherpas. As the rope was about to end, he discovered a snow-covered, but barely alive Maloo. This was around 9 am.

Then, Tashi Sherpa also rappelled into the crevasse and the two clipped Maloo to navigate him out of the icy chasm. It was slow and careful work as Hatala and the sherpas managed the pulley and the rope, ensuring no one slipped and the snow didn’t collapse.

Maloo was airlifted to Manipal Hospital in Pokhara.

The rescue team downclimbed 200 meters from where the helicopter took them to the base camp, celebrating their role in this miracle called life. The complex mission took about six hours.  

Road to Recovery

At Manipal Hospital, Pokhara, Maloo was given CPR for four hours at his brother, Aashish Maloo’s, insistence. He slipped into coma for 12 days with no promise of recovery. The brain doesn’t often recover even if the body lives, doctors said, but the family didn’t give up hope.

Later, Maloo was taken to the Mediciti Hospital in Kathmandu, and eventually airlifted to Delhi’s AIIMS where he was treated for his deep frostbite on the right hand and torso. Maloo was treated at the AIIMS Trauma Center and the Burns and Plastic Surgery ICU.

Almost 200 days after April 20, 2023, Maloo went home to Kishangarh.

On April 30, 2024, we saw the bravehearts in Delhi.

The Accolades

Maloo and his family honoured all the people, sherpas, doctors, mountaineers, who saved him, at the Polish Ambassador’s residence.  

The Indian Mountaineering Foundation has also awarded a Certificate of Valor to Adam Bielecki and Mariusz Hatala for this miraculous rescue on Annapurna in April 2023.

Anurag Maloo calls this a rebirth, saved by Annapurna, the goddess of abundance. While he has no memory of the 15 days (between fall and coma), he does watch his recordings time to time.

This miraculous rescue on Annapurna is a testament to the enduring human spirit. It reminds us of the power of teamwork, camaraderie, and the unwavering will to survive, even in the face of extreme adversity. The story of Adam, Mariusz, Anurag, and the courageous Sherpas will inspire climbers and non-climbers alike for years to come.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with Zariya Healings.