Mountaineer found his girlfriend’s remains high in the mountains

The remains of Esther Dingley, a 37-year-old British mountaineer who went missing in November 2020, were found by her boyfriend, Dan Colegate, near where the remains of the woman’s skull were found two years ago. weeks. Women, in the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates France and Spain.

After the suspension of searches at the beginning of the year, on July 1, 2021, members of the Gendarmerie and personnel from the Air Unit and the Groupement de Mountain of the Civil Guard of Benasque (Huesca) had resumed the search without success. The last time Dingley was contacted alive was on November 22, 2020, while climbing solo at Pico de la Salvaguardia in the Huesca Pyrenees. “On the afternoon of August 9, Esther Dingley’s body and team were found together in the Pyrenees, near where a cranial bone was discovered two weeks ago. made by Esther’s partner, Daniel Colegate, later unremitting research efforts for him since his demise, ”rights organization LBT Global said in a statement.

The find was in a very difficult to access area, so it is possible that a special operation with helicopters would be required to recover the remains. The area known as Port Glere was also the site where part of the skull was found. He was taken to the lab for analysis and it was quickly confirmed that the DNA belonged to the missing British woman, but pathologists are still performing tests on the bone fragment to try to establish the cause of death.

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“At this point, an accident is the most likely hypothesis, given the location and other early indications. A full investigation is underway to confirm the details surrounding this tragedy,” said LBT Global, an organization dedicated to the support for the families of missing persons. Colegate, who was 80 miles away on a French farmhouse, sounded the alarm several days later when she did not show up at the appointed time. The couple were backpacking around Europe, and Dingley was on the last hike of a month-long solo expedition when he disappeared.

The two met in 2003 while they were students at the University of Oxford and then moved to Durham in the UK. And in 2014, after his health problem, the two embarked on a life of adventure in Europe. Until Dingley’s disappearance, Colegate had written books about her travels, while she reflected all of her experiences in a blog.

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As confusing as the first unsuccessful searches after the disappearance were, Dan Colegate never gave up: he walked the trails and mountains of the Pyrenees endlessly, hoping to find clues that would lead him to his wife. Colgate’s insistence prompted authorities to resume the search in early July. Although the hypothesis of a possible abduction has been considered, the first discovery of the skull and now the body has ruled out this idea.

Investigators suggest the woman suffered an accident in the middle of her last excursion in November and may have fallen off a cliff hitting various parts of her body.