A climber has described how a persistent feeling of dread led her to change her travel plans, ultimately saving her life when the helicopter she was originally booked on crashed in Tajikistan, killing five people.
The woman, who was climbing with her boyfriend Tim in the Pamir mountains in 2018, said she felt an unexplained unease from the moment they arrived. The helicopter that dropped them at base camp flew dangerously low and had a hole in its fuselage. The route was far more technical than expected, with daily avalanches and rockfalls, and the fixed ropes were unusable.
After turning back from the first peak due to danger, the couple waited at base camp for their scheduled pickup on 12 August. However, the day before, a different helicopter landed unexpectedly, and they were offered seats. They packed quickly and flew out, barely clearing the glacier. The next day, the helicopter they were meant to be on crashed into the glacier, killing five people. The 13 survivors spent a night among the wreckage.
The couple later learned that the tail of the crashed helicopter had hit an ice tower, tearing off the back two seats where they would have been sitting. The woman said the experience reinforced her trust in her instincts, which had urged her to get off the mountain as soon as possible.
