Epic Mountain Rescue in Remote Mongolia

In 1992, three veteran mountaineers, Julian Freeman-Attwood, Lindsay Griffin and Ed Webster, were invited to “guide” six aspiring mountaineers in a part of Central Asia where no other western climbers had been allowed.

In total, the expedition made 23 ascents of peaks and lesser summits on the border between Mongolia and China. Several were previously untrodden and more than half were climbed by new routes of varying difficulties. On one of the climbs, a falling boulder landed on Griffin and severely injured his leg. What ensued was an historic rescue from a remote mountain range.

In a 1993 story by Griffin in The Himalayan Journal here about the rescue, he said, “Then once or twice I tried ‘Help!,’ but it sounded so ridiculous that I quickly reverted to a high-pitched wail which I guessed would be just as effective. At round 7 p.m. I was greatly relieved to hear shouts from below; yet it took a further three hours for Julian and Ed to move the boulder sufficiently to free the leg and construct a temporary splint with ice-axes and the climbing rope. With Ed doing an outstanding job of supporting the leg and navigating a route in the dark, I bum-shuffled down for 14 hours, leaving a trail of red spots like painted waymarks on the boulders.”

Listen to Freeman-Attwood tell the story of the astonishing rescue that took place to save Griffin in the video below. Griffin concluded his 1993 story with, “The success of this rescue was due to the immense cooperation and strong ‘bonding’ between all those concerned; but their efforts would have been doomed had it not been for a spirited helicopter pilot who, against all odds, was prepared to have a go.”

Mongolian Rescue