Over €140K raised for children of Kildare-based climber missing on the Himalayas

A fund to raise money for the children and partner of a missing climber, who was based in Kildare, has come close to reaching its final target. The fund was set up for the children of missing Polish mountain climber Tomasz Mackiewicz, who has been missing since January 25.

Mackiewicz was last seen by his climbing partner, Elisabeth Revol, when the pair were scaling the treacherous Nanga Parbat mountain in the Pakistani Himalayas. Both climbers came into difficulty when they were at 7,280m, just 1,000m short of the summit. Mackiewicz became immobilised with severe frostbite, snow blindness and brain edema at that height, and Revol was forced to go back down the mountain in search of help to save her own life.

A group of Polish mountain climbers who were scaling K2 around 160km away made the journey across to Nanga Parbat by helicopter in a rescue attempt, and the four mountaineers found Revol at around 6,000m.

Temperatures at the time of the rescue attempt were somewhere between -30 and -40 degrees, and the decision was taken not to go any higher in search of Mackiewicz.

A fund was set up and shared on the 43-year-old father of three's blog page, which has more than 70,000 followers. By Wednesday night there was €140,000 raised, just €10,000 shy of the overall target.