RedHaus
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Agree CoverMeCagney, 100%.Brilliant. Pretty much answers everything. Main points I took from it:
- House sitting is in Larroque sur l’Osse
- On 20th Esther spent the day in/around the campervan because the weather wasn’t great
- On 21st she stayed overnight at Cabane La Besurta
- On 22nd she reached the top of Sauvegarde at 3:30, spent half an hour Whatsapping people, sent selfies, and was last heard from in a video call to Dan at 4:07 which lasted 1min 36secs
- She walks faster than average speeds. A 3 hour walk would take her 2 hours
- She has two head torches
- She was due back to her van in Benasque by 25th at latest.
I found the dossier released today by LBT, with I presume DC's input, profound. It reminded me of the deep sorrow ED's disappearance has caused DC and her family. It also affirmed ED's kind and gentle soul. And it answered many of our questions and affirmed some of our rudimentary theories based on limited data. So first, I want to thank LBT / DC for releasing this additional information to the public and for Sjm_qc for posting it! This can only help to solve the question - where is Esther?
From what has been digested so far by other WS'ers, here are some of the additional points I came away with:
- The search information in the dossier did not mention searching any of the lakes at the Refuge area or in the area of pic de Sajust (if she went in that direction)
- We know where she could have had cell service and where she didn't, a key gap in our prior knowledge - and generally she would have had good service on her loop
- The results of the SAR / LE search of the Refuge de Vanesque are inconclusive at best - so ED very well could have stayed there 22/11
- If her intended hike (as you confirmed above) was about a 7-8 hour hike on 23/11, what was she intending to do after she reached Port de Glere? Perhaps she made it to that destination late in the day on 23/11. What would ED have done then - hitched a ride back to her van in Banasque? Stay somewhere to continue hiking?
- Clearly, ED is very communicative from the glimpse we now have into how she communicated with DC. So if she had such good cell service on her intended loop, why the radio silence from 22/11, 4:07pm? It brings us back to early theory of a catastrophic incident between pic de Sauvegarde and when she left Refuge de V.
- Should we revisit our "lost / damaged phone" theory that could explain the radio silence? It could also explain why ED might have aborted her plans and descended from Pic de Sauvegarde on 22/11 back to possibly the Cabane La Besurta or even to her van in Banasque (in the dark) - possibly hitching a ride.
- Also, something might have happened to her at the apex of her loop - down at the Hospice de France - to cause her to abort her trek and try to get a ride out of there.
- And of course we have the rogue hunter(s) or stray hunter's bullet to still consider as those too could be viable concerns given her vulnerability and dark clothing.
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