A Dutch filmmaker becomes altitude sick in the Valais Alps. He records the rescue by a helicopter team on video. In his explanations of what he experienced, he presents himself as an experienced alpinist.
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- Dutch filmmaker Harmen Hoek becomes altitude sick on a mountain tour in the Valais Alps.
- He films his rescue by the Air Glacier himself.
- After recovering at a lower altitude, he continues his journey.
A Dutchman gets into difficulties in the Alps and has to be rescued. Many people think of a tourist in sneakers who doesn't know what he's doing. Harmen Hoek is definitely not that kind of person. The Dutchman is an experienced alpinist who has been releasing carefully produced films of his tours for years.
His latest work is from the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. This tour has already cost the lives of alpinists in groups with a mountain guide.
Hoek is traveling alone, but has carefully prepared for various eventualities. At least that's what his explanations suggest.
Emergency route is blocked
About halfway along the route, near the Lac des Dix reservoir, he falls ill. "Diarrhea, vomiting, headaches and stomach cramps," he lists his symptoms. He knows that these are signs of altitude sickness. Blick was the first to report on it.
He then followed one of his emergency routes, which he had planned in advance, Hoek writes on YouTube. A tunnel should have taken him to a road into the valley. However, its other exit is blocked by snow and ice, as he shows in his video. The block is too massive for him to have used an ice axe to cut his way through.
In the end, the Dutch adventurer sees no other solution than to press the SOS button on his navigation device. The deteriorating weather was another argument in his favor: "I didn't ask for help lightly, but I would rather be rescued now than endanger others in a storm."
The Air Glacier helicopter was unable to land where the Dutchman was waiting. So his team picks him up by winch rescue. It is impossible to tell from the pictures how bad he feels. In any case, he still has enough strength to film his flight on the rope over the frozen Lac des Dix.
Ascended too quickly
The thirty-year-old later explains that he probably ascended too quickly. On other tours - such as on Kilimanjaro - he had had no problems with this. He speculates that the low temperatures and his exhaustion may have been the reason why the altitude affected him so much.
His father picks him up in the valley. Hoek recovers in a hostel for two days. He then continued on his way and reached Zermatt four days later.