Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #2

[RickshawFan]

Terrific find. Thank you!

Can’t help but notice that the weather remained quite nice in those first few days...after last contact but before she was reported missing.

Is an accident (in the short time after that last contact)...the solution to her disappearance...or with beautiful weather...did she wander on for days...and the answers lie far afield?

That's true, but daytime sun in winter often means extremely freezing temperatures, especially at night. Then there's fog, ice, wind... The temps were in the single digits F at night when ED went missing

 

[PeggyHenry]

RSBM and BBM

Do you have any evidence to back this assertion up?? There may be questions over her attitude to risk, but her fitness?

• In her school years she represented Great Britain in rowing.

• In April 2020 she completed a 36 hour cycling marathon (raising £4300 for the NHS) Thank you everyone. £4300 raised.

• In the summer of 2020 she did extensive climbing in the Alps with Dan.

• On her most recent tour she had spent almost a month climbing many peaks many of us on here would not be able to climb once

I think we should assume Esther was very experienced in nutritional welfare and physical fitness.
She ascended the mountain climbing late in the day on the 22nd, but I don’t believe we understand her movements for the morning of 22nd. I don’t think she would have set out so late in the day if she had not been fit to do so.
I’m assuming others were perhaps descending behind Vigo ... we don’t know Esther was on her own up there. Lone hikers may well not wish to admit they were hiking around that time. Esther had managed to hike around for nearly a month until she disappeared... we should assume she had managed adequately and does have some common sense.

 

[PeggyHenry]

RSBM and BBM

Do you have any evidence to back this assertion up?? There may be questions over her attitude to risk, but her fitness?

• In her school years she represented Great Britain in rowing.

• In April 2020 she completed a 36 hour cycling marathon (raising £4300 for the NHS) Thank you everyone. £4300 raised.

• In the summer of 2020 she did extensive climbing in the Alps with Dan.

• On her most recent tour she had spent almost a month climbing many peaks many of us on here would not be able to climb once

Sorry .. duplicate post

 

[The_Investigator]

The skiing dude and his gf were Spaniards, hiking on the Spanish side of the mountains.

Oh thanks for clearing that up.

 

[The_Investigator]

I don't see any people, and the lift is not moving.

Apical Technologies - Neos 360 - Panoramique HD

I was looking at it GMT time today.

 

[PeggyHenry]

Daily Mail 12th Dec, Captain Bordinaro states:

‘It does not seem probable that Esther suffered an accident, and it is not credible that she was eaten by a bear or that she has fallen into a lake,' he said.

‘We believe that her disappearance is either the result of a voluntary act, or as a result of someone else’s actions[...]. It appears that their lives together were not as happy as the images posted on social media suggest.'

I don’t see why Bordinaro would issue that statement unless he believed his own words. Esther set off on 21 st Nov at 10:30 am at Plan de l’Estany after a lift from the Grandad. It was a different route to that which she had originally planned. Why? I believe the answer to her disappearance may well be rooted in that ‘why’.

 

[Grouse]

I think we should assume Esther was very experienced in nutritional welfare and physical fitness.
She ascended the mountain climbing late in the day on the 22nd, but I don’t believe we understand her movements for the morning of 22nd. I don’t think she would have set out so late in the day if she had not been fit to do so.
I’m assuming others were perhaps descending behind Vigo ... we don’t know Esther was on her own up there. Lone hikers may well not wish to admit they were hiking around that time. Esther had managed to hike around for nearly a month until she disappeared... we should assume she had managed adequately and does have some common sense.

Yes her fitness levels were not in doubt and unlikely to be the root cause IMO.

 

[patCee]

You can check France's lockdown rules upthread. There is currently a curfew and no skiing.

I don't have too much confidence about lockdowns to be honest. Whilst most people try to keep within the rules, many people (although a minority) do not. I understand there are many demonstrating (rioting) in Paris and it doesn't get reported. Many young people (under 30s maybe) openly defy the lockdowns. Others do so surreptitiously, the same here in the UK where people move out of areas with stricter tiers to parts where the rules are more relaxed. ED herself avoided them by moving out of France to Spain prior to the stricter rules there. She won't be the only one, and some will be attracted to quieter areas with some good sport thrown in.
Although it's likely ED met with an accident, I think the Ski Resort demonstrates there are people close by in the area (sporty under 30/40s) maybe attracted to jobs in that environment, who could have seen her. Just expressing thoughts, but open to others.

 

[patCee]

Hi patCee. I know that RickshawFan and ZaZara have already responded to some of your questions here. But as well, I thought I'd repost this fairly new map that Ruthbullock and I put together to help define the landmarks we keep referencing with respect to trails and roads, etc. The ski area (with the web cam) is on the France side up at the top of this little map. So that could be one option for ED to find civilization if she needed help, wanted to abort her hike, or purposely was planning to be there. The other obvious route out for any of those reasons would be on the Spain side, down in the bottom right corner, back to Banasque where her van was.

Many thanks RedHaus - OK so unless ED was intending to travel into France for whatever reason, it's unlikely she would be in the area of the Ski Resort, a long way from Banasque and her van. It's hard to think of a logical reason for such a decision in the final days before returning home to DC, as well as the rapidly changing weather.

 

[patCee]

I don't have too much confidence about lockdowns to be honest. Whilst most people try to keep within the rules, many people (although a minority) do not. I understand there are many demonstrating (rioting) in Paris and it doesn't get reported. Many young people (under 30s maybe) openly defy the lockdowns. Others do so surreptitiously, the same here in the UK where people move out of areas with stricter tiers to parts where the rules are more relaxed. ED herself avoided them by moving out of France to Spain prior to the stricter rules there. She won't be the only one, and some will be attracted to quieter areas with some good sport thrown in.
Although it's likely ED met with an accident, I think the Ski Resort demonstrates there are people close by in the area (sporty under 30/40s) maybe attracted to jobs in that environment, who could have seen her. Just expressing thoughts, but open to others.

I also want to add that my family in France do AirBnB and have continued to do so, legitimately, throughout the lockdown, with regular guests arriving, some but not all for work reasons. Some French some not. So there is regular movement going on in France regardless of lockdown.

 

[otto]

There is one witness who saw Esther an hour from the summit on Nov 22, and no witnesses on the France side of the border. There was no one at the Refuge de Venasque, and no evidence that she reached the refuge even though that was the trip plan according to her partner.

He said that he knew she would be out of wifi range overnight on Sunday, but expected her to be back in range on Monday, Nov 23. When he didn't hear from her, but probably assumed that she had a late start, added another trail to the hike, or had problems with phone/wifi. Wednesday, Nov 25, he reported her missing, as that was when he expected her to be back at the van and driving to France.

 

[otto]

The flashing webcam is in Benasque. Click on other webcams to see the area. Some are from minutes ago, others hours.

Windy as forecasted

 

[Quietey]

The flashing webcam is in Benasque. Click on other webcams to see the area. Some are from minutes ago, others hours.

Windy as forecasted

Wow - that is amazing - you can also select past options:

 

[Quietey]

Sorry - just to add in case it's not clear - select how far back you want to look by clicking on the pull-down tab at the left of the slider bar, and then dragging the yellow dot along the slider to move back in time

 

[sundaaaay]

Isnt it funny that whenever someone goes missing mysteriously, the little snippets of information can be blown out of context and proportion. If ED hadn’t have gone missing would any of the things she did seem out of the ordinary.

I completely agree with the comment from Peggy above, ED was very physically fit and used to the climate and high altitude. There was a lot of criticism a few days ago on ED’s preparedness but after looking on Instagram lots of people are hiking in shorts in the snow and it’s not unusual at all. We don’t know what was in her bag but she has good quality hiking gear.

Also interesting going backward on the cctv. If I seen her I think I’d have a heart attack

 

[Quietey]

Could you do a screen shot and post it?

Yes - although Redhaus described it well (Go here... Apical Technologies - Neos 360 - Panoramique HD... look for the little calendar icon in the middle of the screen, under the image... pick your date!)

Here's what it looks like: (the calendar icon is third along in the row of four icons in the bottom black bar. I've just tried out the HD button - it's amazing!). Or did you mean to post the screenshots of the actual scenes?

 

[RickshawFan]

Isnt it funny that whenever someone goes missing mysteriously, the little snippets of information can be blown out of context and proportion. If ED hadn’t have gone missing would any of the things she did seem out of the ordinary.

Snipped for focus.

IMO many of the things we have talked about would be eyebrow-raising whether or not ED was missing.
The best way to evaluate the situation IMO is to get familiar with the French blogger doing the same loop in summer. His way of doing things is generally what you'd expect.

The other point I want to make is that what might seem like micro details can turn into massive catastrophes. In fact, they're not minor at all. All these micro moments of "off" escalate the danger a thousand fold in the November cold in the mountains.
So, no, these small details are very significant. Probably all of them.

 

[RedHaus]

OK, since we're still throwing ideas against the wall, sort of speak, to leave no stone unturned in our sleuthing for ED, I thought I'd loop back to ED's 11/13/2020 FB post. In her post she states... "...A short gentle adventure to a 2000m cabane under face of pic Aneto, new friend,...". And one of the pics she attached is a side shot of her "new friend". I don't believe we've seen anything from the LE about tracking this bespectacled person (man or woman?) to interview, etc. Here is a link to that photo.

Perhaps this person knows something about ED's state of mind and her plans? Perhaps ED had arranged to meet this "new friend" again at a future date??

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=0024ea40070d69c16f0603c8a68acc60&oe=60169BD9

 

[Puzzles]

BBM

OK, since we're still throwing ideas against the wall, sort of speak, to leave no stone unturned in our sleuthing for ED, I thought I'd loop back to ED's 11/13/2020 FB post. In her post she states... "...A short gentle adventure to a 2000m cabane under face of pic Aneto, new friend,...". And one of the pics she attached is a side shot of her "new friend". I don't believe we've seen anything from the LE about tracking this bespectacled person (man or woman?) to interview, etc. Here is a link to that photo.

Perhaps this person knows something about ED's state of mind and her plans? Perhaps ED had arranged to meet this "new friend" again at a future date??

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=0024ea40070d69c16f0603c8a68acc60&oe=60169BD9

Your thoughts are great here, Redhaus.
IMO, it's reasonable to assume this person who passed time with ED, as well as the fellow hiker with whom she travelled on Nov 19th have been interviewed by LE.

PeggyHenry reminded us upthread that Captain Bordinaro stated (Daily Mail Dec. 12.)
‘It does not seem probable that Esther suffered an accident, and it is not credible that she was eaten by a bear or that she has fallen into a lake,' he said.

‘We believe that her disappearance is either the result of a voluntary act, or as a result of someone else’s actions[...]."

IMO, we may never learn ED has been found safe if her disappearance is the result of a voluntary act.

If she met with foul play, it may take a long time before MSM can report that fact. If her body is found showing evidence of same, it's unlikely that information would be divulged to the public until a suspect can be named.

 

[otto]

12/22/2020

"The hypothesis of an accident in the mountains is preferred, nevertheless no other hypothesis is excluded," adds this same source. Moreover, if the scenario of a bear attack has been mentioned by several media across the Channel, like the Sun or the Daily Mail , there is no evidence for the time being to support this version.

The young woman left Spain on November 22 to go hiking alone in the Luchonnais (Pyrenees), but investigators still do not know if she crossed the border with France. "The vehicle of the latter being on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, there is nothing to confirm that the hiker has passed the French side" , says the source close to the file."​

Randonneuse disparue dans les Pyrénées : un mois plus tard, la thèse de l'accident est privilégiée