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

[Federico_A]

Point X is not even through the Port de la Glere. Do you think she fell at the Port?

Not at the Port itself, no, because that's where the main path is and I guess she would have been easily found around there. X is higher up to the east (100m higher at a very rough guess). That point is not visible from the Port on the Spanish side as it's round a bend and behind several rocky outcrops.
Picture shows another angle. Port de la Glere is on the left about 100m away.

 

[otto]

Not at the Port itself, no, because that's where the main path is and I guess she would have been easily found around there. X is higher up to the east (100m higher at a very rough guess). That point is not visible from the Port on the Spanish side as it's round a bend and behind several rocky outcrops.

Picture shows another angle. Port de la Glere is on the left about 100m away.

That stone ridge at the Port de la Glere - as a skull or body location x - is not consistent with other information that has been released regarding the location of partial skull, skeletal remains and equipment. As a body fall location, is that what you said in your original email and I got it wrong? Even as a body fall location, it doesn't seem like the topo trajectories work.

 

[otto]

Not at the Port itself, no, because that's where the main path is and I guess she would have been easily found around there. X is higher up to the east (100m higher at a very rough guess). That point is not visible from the Port on the Spanish side as it's round a bend and behind several rocky outcrops.

Picture shows another angle. Port de la Glere is on the left about 100m away.

What do the arrow and X represent?

 

[RickshawFan]

That stone ridge at the Port de la Glere - as a skull or body location x - is not consistent with other information that has been released regarding the location of partial skull, skeletal remains and equipment. As a body fall location, is that what you said in your original email and I got it wrong? Even as a body fall location, it doesn't seem like the topo trajectories work.

Are you asking me? I’m confused.

 

[RickshawFan]

What do the arrow and X represent?

View attachment 308671

The arrow pointing to the PicdelaG is incorrect IMO. The Pic de la G is that little hump next to the PortdelaG. France and Spain are mixed up in that photo? The French side is much steeper than the Spanish side.

 

[otto]

Are you asking me? I’m confused.

Not at all. I am trying to understand what the arrow and X mean at the Port de la Glere border of Spain and France. This image is posted upthread.

 

[searancke]

Not at all. I am trying to understand what the arrow and X mean at the Port de la Glere border of Spain and France. This image is posted upthread.

View attachment 308672

I'm not the poster but I believe the X is to represent the point where ED could have fallen, (so not where the body is nor the skull) the arrow is the path up to that point.

 

[otto]

I hope Dan clarifies where she was found. A lot of people cared that she vanished in the Pyrenees.

 

[otto]

I'm not the poster but I believe the X is to represent the point where ED could have fallen, (so not where the body is nor the skull) the arrow is the path up to that point.

Thank you. I think you may be right. But - why would she climb the Pic de la Glere when the destination is the Port de la Glere, and there's an easy trail to Pic de Sacroux right there.

I suppose I'm wondering why she would ascend that difficult Pic when there's a better photo to be had on the left.

Why would Esther be at point X falling off a mountain, deviating from the trail, and not easily found at the bottom of the shale below? I think her body was further East.

 

[mrjitty]

Why would Esther be at point X falling off a mountain, deviating from the trail, and not easily found at the bottom of the shale below?

BIB

This is really the problem all along. We don't know the reasons to be off the trail, which makes it hard to retrofit. Once the body is located, at least we know where she left the trail, and can come up with better guesses.

I feel so much of the speculation of this case is driven by a supposed mystery, that never really was a mystery. The body is found quickly, and no one delves into motivations so much.

The reason to be off the trail can be a sudden impulse, unknown plan, missing the trail etc

 

[mrjitty]

Because evidence. The body was found in the cirqe de la glere, 100m (horizontally) from the path. Therefore she cannot have been on the Sacroux side of the col.

Perhaps she didn't have enough time to go up to Sacroux. Probably she had noticed the 45 degree path heading up to the ridge beneath Pic de la Glere when she was approaching the Port and decided that was an easier option for a picture. I think there is no view of the French side up the Sacroux path until the very summit.
Not sure why there is still speculation on this because we know roughly where she was found.

I don't have a dog in the fight, but it would explain a lot if she took a little dog leg like that to a vantage point (remembering she doesn't have google maps like us) to see what she could see / get a photo and then fell into a spot on the reverse of the ridge line that can't be seen from below.

Rescue efforts likely focussed looking below or around the trail - i am not sure they would have expected her to fall from higher up

 

[mrjitty]

I think this is the most specific update yet:

The boyfriend of British hiker Esther Dingley has been questioned at length after he discovered her body on Monday. Dan Colegate, 38, concentrated on the rocky terrain near where part of Esther's skull had been found last month, police captain Jean Marc Bordinaro said, while maintaining that the most likely theory is that Esther died in an accident.

Colegate, who is not a suspect, found Esther's body about 437 yards (400m) from the remote peak of Pic de la Glere which straddles the French Spanish border in the Pyrenees. Her skull had been found 656 yards (600m) away further south down a twisting path that experienced hikers have described as 'treacherous'.

Not sure about the map they have - as you'd wonder why she couldn't be seen from the pass?

Also implies a 400m vertical fall? Or do they mean just 400m as the crow flies from the peak ...

British hiker Esther Dingley's boyfriend is questioned by police days after discovering her body | Daily Mail Online

 

[mrjitty]

Not at the Port itself, no, because that's where the main path is and I guess she would have been easily found around there. X is higher up to the east (100m higher at a very rough guess). That point is not visible from the Port on the Spanish side as it's round a bend and behind several rocky outcrops.
Picture shows another angle. Port de la Glere is on the left about 100m away.

Looks like you are correct

If she came to rest in the lee of some rocks, or in a small fold, she might not be visible from the pass, or trail. You'd have to ascend to the ridge to see her.

Also you can see how the skull gives the clue, focussing attention up hill from the trail as it descends on the french side, not down

I am guessing to access that location (100m above the trail) you have to make a 600m winding trek ascending back up the trail, then a lateral traverse off trail ...

 

[Konstantin]

Regarding the theory that Esther took her own life, and bearing in mind that people in such a state may not always act very rationally, is it not reasonable to hypothesize that since her body was found with her backpack and kit that she simply fell?

Since if she wanted to jump she might have climbed to a high place, taken her backpack off and then contemplated things for a bit before jumping?

I know Dan insists that Esther did not ever go off trail but for obvious reasons he does not know what she did when she was hiking alone, only when she was with him, and it could be that he is the natural leader of the two who is very strict about staying on trails? And he was wrong about his assumptions of her route. And she clearly was off trail to have fallen where she did.

I wonder if Esther, knowing this was her last hike for a while and dreading the implications of lockdown and feeling that she wanted to have something to show Dan/her social media followers climbed somewhere high to take a good and cool photo of herself up there, and lost her balance and slipped. I do feel this was most likely just a tragic accident, the result of the sort of tiny error or loss of concentration that we all have. And if Esther was not eating enough--and there is evidence to suggest that this was something that did happen to her--she could have been dizzy and maybe did not even realize it or thought its usual for her and she can cope with it..

 

[mrjitty]

Amazing the mileage Dan walked

 

[Hatty]

If I could find her comment about getting lost on the trail and accidentally following animal trails shortly before her disappearance I would post it. That comment gives some context. Hopefully the person who originally posted the comment will share it again ...


Otto I think it was me. This is a section of what ED posted on 19 Nov on the Esther & Dan FB page.

“Today was a very mixed day. I set off relaxed, thinking I had all the time in the world because the weather looked good and the forecast had been also good. But slowly I found myself racing the weather. I had to release any expectations to my plans of climbing the 2550m peak and staying out for another night away... But it could just blow through I thought so I decided to give it a try. My fears and doubts started to set I with the forest few spots of rain and the wind picking up. It wasn't helped that although on this hike I wasn't climbing my way up snow and ice, I was struggling with a different challenge, disappearing paths and confusing goat/sheep tracks taking me of track and finding myself continually have to stop to check the map and haul myself up the mountainside to get back on track. My self doubt in my decision to try was increasing each time I found myself off track. But with my thru-hiking pack on my back I gained confidence that everything I needed to survive was with me, whether cold, wet or hungry! “

It was interesting re-Reading her recent posts and noticing how she talks to pushing and challenging herself. She says she could hear Dan saying “you got this” and how her trip was about “self care”. These comments do not suggest a split from DC or a suicidal mindset.

I think she pushed herself too far and tragically fell.

 

[Hatty]

Sorry Otto, I’ve done something strange to my last post and it’s got mixed up in yours!!!!

 

[IrisElizabeth]

Sensitive people look away.
As the yellow mat keeps being mentioned, I wonder if she was found lying on it? That would mean she survived the fall and was stuck on a ledge unable to get either down or up (broken legs?) but was not visible from the path. If she still had all gear - clothes, sleeping bag, some food - then she could have been stuck there for ages (a couple of weeks?) until finally succumbing when the snow came. Nightmare scenario really.

Could she have been found with a better search? Of course. I think the searchers made some terrible choices by spreading far too wide - including Maladeta and the Spanish border east of Sauvegarde, which she never mentioned going to. The French loop was the biggest false assumption, and that diverted a lot of resources unnecessarily. She did actually say she intended to go to Port de la Glere so that should have been top priority, and obviously they should have used drones to check those cliffs, when obviously they didn't, or not very well.
Easy to say in hindsight, but it seems they didn't triage the search areas properly.

If this scenario is correct, I think she would have succumbed to hypothermia quite quickly despite all her gear, and if she had broken her legs, and had no medical treatment, I would assume her body would have gone into shock. Basically I don't think she would have been suffering for a couple of weeks. I wonder if there was a reason that SAR spread their search wider than DC's information would have suggested. I think there are a lot of things about this case that haven't been made public for whatever reason - I doubt SAR would have spread their finite resources so thin for no good reason. I really dislike this narrative that is forming in the press that SAR carried out an incompetent search.

 

[IrisElizabeth]

Latest update British hiker Esther Dingley 'fell 100ft to her death after losing her footing on rocky ledge' | Daily Mail Online

 

[ZaZara]

British hiker Esther Dingley 'fell 100ft to her death after losing her footing on rocky ledge' | Daily Mail Online


British hiker Esther Dingley fell almost 100ft to her death after losing her footing on a rocky ledge close to the peak of a mountain in the Pyrenees, according to French investigators.

They believe she plunged down a steep rock-strewn slope near to the 2,300ft summit of the Pic de la Glere which straddles the French-Spanish border.

Items from her rucksack, including her phone were found scattered on a rocky ledge spread close to remains of her body that were discovered earlier this week by her boyfriend Dan Colegate.


BBM