A haunting final photograph has emerged of Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsina, who was left stranded on a remote 24,406ft peak after breaking her leg – and is now feared dead.
The image shows the 47-year-old mother-of-one bravely smiling for the camera, her shattered leg stabilised with a spare tent pole. At the time, hopes were still high that she could be saved.
Incredibly, Natalia survived for almost a week after the photograph – first published by Izvestia – was taken with Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia.
In that time, she endured freezing winds and temperatures plunging to minus 20C. One week later, she was even spotted waving to a drone.
But despite her extraordinary fight for life, rescuers were unable to get a helicopter capable of reaching her altitude.
Mostly, the weather was too severe – but critics insist there were small windows when she might have been reached, if an aircraft and crew had been ready.
Instead, attempts were made to climb to her position. But rescuers were twice turned back, once by a storm and once when their team leader was injured.
Two weeks on from her accident, her son Mikhail, 27, was still desperately pleading for a renewed attempt using a drone and helicopter to reach her.
A haunting final photograph shows the 47-year-old mother-of-one bravely smiling for the camera, her shattered leg stabilised with a spare tent pole
Drone footage filmed just days ago showed clear movement from the sleeping bag she has been sheltering in
Russian mountaineer Natalia, also known as Natasha, Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped at 22,965ft on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan, with a summit height of 24,406ft
But on Wednesday this week, a drone equipped with thermal cameras detected no sign of life.
Tragically, this was the second death from the doomed expedition.
Sinigaglia, who had been struck by frostbite and brain swelling, died of exposure while descending – after doing all he could to protect Natalia, leaving her with a tent, gas cooker and sleeping bag.
At that point, rescuers said she was in a ‘more or less good condition’.
German climber Gunter Siegmund, also suffering frostbite, managed to make it down and was rushed to hospital.
He later revealed the group had spent a night together in Natalia’s tent before the men attempted their descent.
They, he said, ‘made a decision to stay for the night together with her in the tent up there.
‘But inside it was still okay. It was not fine, but it was okay.’
During the descent, the group met Russian mountaineer Roman Mokrinsky, who recalled Sinigaglia’s sudden deterioration.
He said: ‘Sinigaglia turned rapidly completely out of control…. And in the very next minutes, he just died in my arms.’
A final effort to climb to Nagovitsina was abandoned just 3,600ft below where Nagovitsina is stuck, with the weather set to worsen, as the team were ordered to return to base
Previous rescue efforts for the climber failed due to bad weather
Despite Sinigaglia’s death, he admitted he had not been overly concerned for Natalia at that point.
‘At this point, for us, it was for sure Natasha was fine since we supplied her with enough food, with enough gas for several days.
‘Okay, this was the very first step, but I never thought, ‘Is she already in a critical condition here..?’
The 24,406ft peak is known as one of the most difficult and dangerous on the planet, with a high fatality rate.
It is the northernmost 7,000 metre‑plus peak on Earth, in a region with an exceptionally short climbing season and brutally cold weather.
Climbers encounter temperatures below –30 °C, relentless snowstorms, high winds, and frequent avalanches.
