Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #6

[RickshawFan]

That's true.

Still, I wouldn't hike to a peak with a heavy pack late in the day if I were planning to return to my starting point. That doesn't rule out an unplanned descent, of course, but it still seems more likely to me that Esther was planning to sleep above the treeline on the night of the 22nd, and the obvious place would be the Refuge de Venasque.

I’d never leave a pack overnight at somewhere like the Cabane. My stove or something could get ripped off, and I’d need the extra layers for the Pic.
However, I would certainly take it off on the top of the Pic, just because it’s comfier that way. But I would also be throwing on at least one extra layer (likely ascending in just a baselayer) depending on temp, so I’d have to get it out of the pack. All that entails is slithering out of it. I’m actually very surprised ED has it on on pic Photo #2.
I will mention, too, that without food, and little water (there was nowhere to re-supply since the trailhead IIRC, and she had only a 2 or 3 liter bladder), ED’s pack wasn’t very heavy. The pack design makes it look big.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

I wonder if we'll find out now what actual equipment and clothing she had with her?

 

[Lucy6226]

I'm glad that Esther's body and equipment has been found, I feel this will be the closure the family needs.

Absolutely heartbreaking that Dan was the one to find her though

 

[RickshawFan]

The thing is that she should have had ample time to reach the Refuge de Venasque from her last known contact point, and having reached it should have had time to complete any reasonble onward route to the Port de la Glère the following day. So there would have been no need to press on beyond the refuge that night. She'd hoped that the winter room there would be open, and it was.

LE says she wasn’t at RdeV. I believe them.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I'm glad that Esther's body and equipment has been found, I feel this will be the closure the family needs.

Absolutely heartbreaking that Dan was the one to find her though

Heartbreaking, but as Iris said, it might ultimately comfort him knowing he did that one last thing to help bring her home.

 

[Lucy6226]

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I think once the skull fragment was found this would have narrowed the search area. I don't feel there is anything sinister in this.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

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The likelihood is that Dan found her because he was the one doing the most diligent searching and really taking the time to second guess her route and look at potential danger points. If I were him I too would have scoured every inch of those mountains, even if it took a lifetime.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

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You are correct, we must wait for a police statement. Until then it is absolutely against the terms of this site to suggest Dan played any part in Esther’s death. Full stop.

“At this stage an accident is the most likely hypothesis, given the location and other early indications.”

 

[Owlpellet]

Dan’s found her body and pack!
Esther Dingley: Missing hiker's boyfriend finds her body

ah...I’m late!

 

[Skigh]

Esther Dingley's boyfriend discovers final remains of the missing British hiker in the Pyrenees | Daily Mail Online

 

[RickshawFan]

She had ample time to reach many known locations within a couple of hours of 10 am the following day.

There are two routes to Port de la Glere from Refuge de Venasque. No one knows which route she took.

She was going to the Port de la Glere the following day, she thought she might dip into France, along with that thought was the question of whether Refuge de Venasque has a Winter Room.

Esther had wifi. We knew within minutes that Refuge de Venasaque had a Winter Room. Why didn't Esther know this basic information?

From the valley to the PdelaG is much longer than 2 hours, and it’s rated difficult. I’m thinking ED arrived at PdelaG late in the day, after miscalculating the trip. She might have based the length of time it would take her from the length of time it took her to go from the Cabane to the PortdeV. She could gave become sluggish from lack of food and all that uphill climbing. She could have gotten herself injured on the way up. She could have started late, thinking she could make it and bivouac at the top. So many possibilities.

Keep in mind that “experience” is being substituted for athleticism, as though they are synonyms. They are not at all. LE regards ED as “inexperienced”. In this, they confirm my sense of the matter from the very beginning.

 

[pineapple23]

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To the best of my knowledge, an accident has always been considered the most likely scenario and all that has been said about murder/foul play was that it was a possibility that couldn't be ruled out.

 

[RickshawFan]

Her pack looked heavy to a stranger, but, in photos, to me, it looks ill fitting and full. Perhaps it looked big and full but wasn't that heavy.

Snipped for focus.
Exactly this.

 

[Owlpellet]

I’m glad it was Dan who found her, even though it would have been traumatic. It’s made all his efforts worthwhile and given him time with her remains to say goodbye.

 

[Lucy6226]

Also noted the report says he found her body Sunday afternoon, so at least they have given him time before the press release to start the grieving process

 

[poirotoupierrot]

IMO, she did not go down to the Refuge from the Pic. LE said early on that there was no evidence she went there. Indeed, she never said she was going to that particular Refuge. There are other Refuges in the area, including one at la Glère, that may or may not have had a winter room.
IMO the assumption/intepretation within the first days that ED went to the Refuge de V directly from the Pic has thrown a lot of people off, including perhaps LE/SAR. IMO there's no basis for privileging that route above others unless there was explicit, unambiguous, communication spelling it out. We haven't been presented with anything like that.
Phone signal, per the dossier, was good (though maybe not in patches?) in the Refuge de V/Hospice trail area. Maybe that whole valley (hard to tell exactly from the dossier). There was likely no phone signal in the P de la G area because of the lay of the land.

The phone signal may havebeen more of an issue than previously mentioned. It seemed to me perfectly possible 'an external actor' or whatever we want to call them could create a post hoc 'reality' due to the lack of specific coverage in some areas - this is why some Insta posts had 'Pyrenees' and others had a specific mountain. I find it a bit weird more attention wasn't paid that.

 

[poirotoupierrot]

It may only be 2 days. The last comms were just after 1600 on 22nd. DC's dossier says he alerted the authorities on 25th. The cops say they were alerted on 24th (all flagged before). My view is to take the dossier as a primary source and the media reports as secondary, so on that basis I favour 25th. If so, 3 days of radio silence while in Pyrenees in sub-zero temperature on the first night.

Still - a freaking long time to be in sub zero temperatures.

 

[ZaZara]

For Dan to find her remains.... words fail.

Prayers for the family.

 

[Tortoise]

From the valley to the PdelaG is much longer than 2 hours, and it’s rated difficult. I’m thinking ED arrived at PdelaG late in the day, after miscalculating the trip. She might have based the length of time it would take her from the length of time it took her to go from the Cabane to the PortdeV. She could gave become sluggish from lack of food and all that uphill climbing. She could have gotten herself injured on the way up. She could have started late, thinking she could make it and bivouac at the top. So many possibilities.

Keep in mind that “experience” is being substituted for athleticism, as though they are synonyms. They are not at all. LE regards ED as “inexperienced”. In this, they confirm my sense of the matter from the very beginning.

BBM Do you mean late that Sunday, straight after her last convo with Dan, from Pic de Sauveguarde, or late the following day?

I'm relieved for her loved ones Esther has been found and they can now work out what happened. The not knowing must have been unbearable.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Esther Dingley: Missing hiker's boyfriend finds her body

This reports says Dan walked hundreds of miles in his search for Esther. I'm glad he's bringing his girl home