Climbing Trail

The Andes tragedy Part 27

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Commander Massa and Garcia showed faces full of doubt. The crowd looked at Garcia and said, "It seems they are confused. They could not cross the Andes Mountains on foot. Impossible."

Garcia this time looked straight at me, "Are you sure you can read this map? "

"I'm sure." I said, "We went down the mountain along this valley. This is where the valley splits into two branches. Then we followed this branch of the valley and got here."

Garcia nodded his head and folded his map. I doubt they believe my words.

"When will you start looking for them? " Tanyaku.

"As soon as this fog wears off, we'll be flying soon." Said.

Then he and Massa left us. I knew they were talking about my explanation and how far they believed it.

Three hours later, the fog was still blurring the view, but it was thinning and now the helicopter pilot thought that under these circumstances it was safe enough to fly. As the helicopter crew was getting ready for the flight, Garcia approached me and said, "We're leaving now" he said. "But the location you showed us was at a very high place and was the most remote part of the Andes Mountains. It's very difficult to fly around there, and without any clear clues, we'd be hard-pressed to find your friends. Are you willing to come along and be our guide? "

I did not clearly remember the answer I gave, or it seemed that I did not answer it at all, but in an instant I had been inside the helicopter.

Someone put headphones into my ear, and confirmed the position of the tip of the small microphone near my mouth. Three members of the Andean Helping Squad sat beside me. A co-pilot was sitting in front of me, and Commander Garcia was holding the wheel.

As Garcia turned on the helicopter's engine, I looked out the window and looked at Roberto, the only person who understood my fear of returning to the Andes Mountains. He didn't wave to me, we just looked at each other. Then the helicopter moved in the air and my entrails wanted to get out when we jolted hard and moved eastward towards the mountains.

Through the earphones, I overheard a technical conversation between the pilot and the mechanic to set up the flight path, then Garcia said to me.

"Okay, Nando," he said. "Show me the way."

I led them all the way to the valley and followed them all the way to the Chilean border into the Andes of Argentina. The second helicopter, piloted by Massa, was close behind us.

The sky was filled with whirlwinds, and our helicopter danced around like a speedboat in the undulating waters, but the flight did not take long, in less than twenty minutes, the helicopter hovered at the eastern valley border, where Mount Seler was towering above us like a giant fortress wall.

"Holy Jesus" Someone murmured.

Garcia let the helicopter hover in the air as he looked up at the snowy mountain peak and set his sights down the slope that ended up at the bottom of the valley, a few hundred meters below us.

"Yes, God," he said. "Have you gone this way?'

"Yes" I said, "This is the way."

"You sure?" Said again. "Are you absolutely sure."

"I'm sure" I said. "They are behind this mountain."

Garcia spoke to the co-pilot beside him.

"With this many people, the helicopter will feel heavy" the copilot said. "I'm not sure we'll be able to circle that mountain."

Garcia asked back to me. "Nando, are you really sure this is the way?"

I shouted through the microphone, "I'm sure!!"

Garcia nodded his head. "All holding on" he said.

I feel like the helicopter is speeding up as the pilot drives the engine. We floated along the surface of the mountain, spurring speed. Then, slowly, the helicopter started flying uphill. When flying approached

mountain, we were spinning in a whirlpool of strong winds coming from the slope. Garcia tried to control the balance as the helicopter circled erratically. The helicopter engine made a terrible noise, the windshield of the helicopter shook, the seat shook violently to obscure my view. It seems like all the bolts and nuts that were stuck in the helicopter wanted to escape from its place, and I'm sure this helicopter will vibrate violently to the point of being destroyed. I once felt the chaos of the machine as I was now, just before Fairchild fell, I panicked as if my throat was about to explode. Garcia and the co-pilot put the order together so it was unclear who was talking.

"The air is too thin! We can't go up anymore."

"Come, force! "

"One hundred percent, one hundred ten... "

"Defend, defend!"

I glanced at the rescuers, expecting signs that something like this was common, but their faces were pale. Garcia kept pushing the helicopter's engine, trying to raise its altitude, and finally he managed to force our helicopter to fly up to the top of the mountain. I looked at the top with haru. Remember how much Roberto and I suffered here.

However, not long after we had circled the summit area, a strong wind emanating from the mountain ridge threw our helicopter backwards, he said, and Garcia had no other choice but to let the helicopter fall on a loop-shaped trajectory so that our helicopter wouldn't hit the slope.

When we fell, I screamed

loud, and constantly yelling as our helicopter circled and once again headed to the top of the mountain, returning to the same fear I had previously experienced.

"We will not be able to get to the top of the mountain, Garcia told us all. "We need to find a way around. This mission is very dangerous, and I will not continue unless everyone on this helicopter has agreed. It's all up to you, are we going to keep going, or come back?"

We just looked at each other, then turned to the pilot and nodded our heads.

"Well," he said, "But hold on tight, the journey will be hard." My stomach turned nauseous again as the pilot slammed his wheel to the right and flew across the lower peak to the south of Mount Seler. That's the only route we can go, we no longer fly in line with the one I've been on with Roberto, and now I can't recognize the territory we've been through.

"Where's the next direction? Garcia asked.

I gazed along the horizon, searching for places I could reference, worrying about the state of my lost friends with no hope of help. All the places I saw looked the same, only snow and black stones....

Then there was something on the surface of the mountain ridge that caught my attention.

"Wait!" My yelling. "I know the mountain! I know where we are. Lower altitude!"

As the helicopter went low, I realized that Garcia had made it around the mountain bordering the crash site to the south. We were now above the valley we had been through while traveling eastward.

"They must be up there," I said while pointing eastward.

"I didn't see anything" said the pilot.

"Keep walking!" I said. "They're all around the glacier"

"The wind is so strong!" co-pilot.

"It looks like we can't land in this place."

I stared at the slopes, and suddenly I recognized something, a small spot in the snow.

"I saw the plane!" I'm yelling.

"They're there, on the left!"

Garcia observed the mountain's slopes.

"Where... I didn't see anything. Oh, I saw it. Shut up, everybody shut up!"

We flew around the crash site. My heart is beating very fast. With all her might, Garcia fought the wind over the glacier, but my fear faded as I saw a small dot of human body shape come out from inside the plane.

Although from a very high place, I could recognize them, I saw Gustavo, I recognized him from the pilot hat he was wearing, then Daniel, Pedro, Fito, Javier... And the others, running around, waving their hands. I tried to count their numbers, but the helicopter shake made it difficult for me. I don't see Roy and Coche, two people I'm really worried about.

I heard Garcia's voice through the headphones, talking to the rescue team.

"The slope is too steep for landing" he said. "I'll fly as low as I can. And you guys have to jump out."

Then he focused his attention on maintaining the balance of the helicopter that flew low in the middle of the whirlwind.

"Damn! This wind is very strong. Keep the altitude."

"See the slope, we're flying too low!"

"Support altitude!"

"Slowly.."

He turned the helicopter so that one of its sides faced the slope, then lowered it slowly until one of the helicopter's legs touched the snow surface.

"Hurry, jump!" He yelled. Rescuers opened the door of the helicopter, threw its equipment down a slope, and jumped out. I saw Daniel running towards us. He dashed down under the helicopter propeller and tried to get inside the helicopter, but he took a wrong step and threw his body.

"Carajo!" He yelled. "It looks like I broke my ribs."

"Don't kill yourself!" I screamed while laughing happily looking at it. Then stretched out my hand and pulled Daniel into the helicopter. Alvaro Mangino then also followed in.

"We can only take them, can't do any more" Garcia shouted.

"We'll be back tomorrow. Now close the door!"

I obeyed the captain's orders, then we

it hovered over the plane's location as a second helicopter landed and dropped off other rescue teams. I saw Carlitos, Pedro, and Eduardo get into the helicopter. Then looking at Coche Inciarte, he looked very thin and weak, staggered towards the helicopter.

"Coche is alive!" I said to Daniel. "What about Roy?"

"Still alive" said Daniel, "But his condition is very critical."

The return flight to Las Maitenes was as horrible as the departure, but in less than twenty minutes we had landed safely in the meadow near the peasants' cottage. As soon as the door of the helicopter opened, Daniel and Alvaro were immediately handled by the medical team.

A moment later, the second helicopter landed within thirty meters of our helicopter, and I had been waiting outside the moment the door of the helicopter opened. Coche embraced me with overflowing happiness, as did Eduardo and Carlitos. We hugged, laughed and cried at the same time.

Enraptured to still be able to see the flowers and green plants, they immediately threw themselves on the grass and rolled on the ground. Daniel even directly ate the flowers so happy.

Carlitos hugged me and slammed my body on the ground.

"You're really crazy! You succeeded!" He said while crying.

She looked at me with a radiant face, her eyes radiating happiness.

Roberto's approaching. The three of us hugged while crying.

(Connected)