At least 11 climbers were killed when a Russia avalanche hit a 33-person mountaineering group on Mount Mizhirgi in the North Caucasus on Sunday around 5 p.m. local time. At least six others were missing, and six climbers were injured as search and rescue teams moved into difficult terrain.
More than 50 emergency workers were deployed after the avalanche. At least ten members of the group managed to descend the mountain without assistance, while the rest were split between the dead, the missing, the injured and those who got down on their own.
Mount Mizhirgi in Russia
Mount Mizhirgi has two summits and is considered an ultra-high mountain, one of 12 peaks in the Caucasus above 16,000 feet. That made the site more than a remote climbing route: it was a steep, high-altitude face where the rescue effort had to contend with treacherous terrain and the threat of further avalanches.
The avalanche struck a group on one of the area's highest peaks, turning a single climb into a mass-casualty operation. For the climbers still missing, the immediate next phase was not movement up the mountain but a search through unstable snow and rock, where every pass by rescuers carried the risk of another slide.
Search and rescue operation
Emergency workers were deployed after the avalanche, and the number on the mountain rose above 50 as crews tried to reach injured climbers and account for those still missing. The size of the response reflects the scale of the group hit: 33 climbers in one place, with at least 11 dead and six injured before the search was even complete.
The clearest unanswered issue is whether all of the missing climbers are found and how the avalanche developed at around 5 p.m. local time. For the families and climbers tied to that group, the story has already moved from ascent to recovery, and the next update will come from the search itself.
