Found Deceased France - Anne-Cecile Hondeville, 50, hiking in French Pyrenees, 24 Oct 2021

[crusader]

"Anne-Cécile Hondeville, a 50-year-old woman from Bordes in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, has been actively sought by the Gavarnie CRS since Wednesday."

[Her] car is still parked in Arrens-Marsous, and [her] goal was to reach the peak of Balaïtous (3,144 meters). The highest peak of the Balaïtous massif, straddling the Azun Valley - the Ossau Valley and Spain. "In this area, there is no telephone network," said CRS.

"The most accident-prone areas on the north side have been explored", continues a CRS from Gavarnie. The high mountain rescuers deployed in pairs on the routes most commonly used by hikers to reach the peak. "The gendarmerie helicopter also carried out personnel drop-offs and location overflights."

Anne-Cécile ne donne plus signe de vie depuis dimanche

https://news.in-24.com/news/243928.html

 

[lindamichelle1]

A hiker missing in the Pyrenees | tellerreport.com

Cant find any furth updates on Anne.

 

[ZaZara]

A hiker missing in the Pyrenees | tellerreport.com

Cant find any furth updates on Anne.

Well, that is hardly surprising given the time of the year.
There is snow and frost in the area, and rain and winds are expected.
Searches will probably start again once the snow has melted in spring.

 

[ZaZara]

Hautes-Pyrénées. Les recherches pour retrouver Anne-Cécile reprennent dans le Balaïtous

Hautes-Pyrénées. The search for Anne-Cécile resumes in the Balaïtous

The hiker disappeared at the end of October 2021. Now that the snow has melted, the search for Anne-Cecile Hondeville has resumed in the Hautes-Pyrénées.

On Sunday 24 October 2021, Anne-Cécile Hondeville, a 50-year-old woman from Béarn, set off to climb the Balaïtous in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Alone. An experienced hiker, she regularly undertakes this type of solo expedition. She was due to return on Wednesday 27 October 2021. Her ex-partner had tried to contact her without success during her journey. Her mother finally alerted the emergency services.

But despite the considerable resources put in place by the Compagnie républicaine de sécurité (CRS) of Gavarnie, she remained untraceable. And in November, with the arrival of winter and its snow, the search had to be stopped.

"As soon as the snow melts, we'll go back. We'll do helicopter flights again. And of course, we will direct our training and education in the area," the CRS told Actu Occitanie in November 2021.

This is now the case. And the family is also making an appeal. "Today it is because the hikes will resume in the Balaïtous, as soon as the snow has melted, that we are once again communicating about her," her relatives stress on social networks.

"We need you to search this mountain, we need you to find out why, where, how", they say.

The family said that Anne-Cecile had left with "a big blue backpack". Anne-Cecile is 50 years of age and 1.70m tall. She has a "slim build and short dark brown hair".

"Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call 17. Her two sons, aged 6 and 12, and her family are counting on you to help her," Valerie Hondeville added on Facebook.

The area is vast and steep, so the help of all hikers is welcome to to the search team. Sometimes, despite the considerable resources put in place, people who have disappeared in the mountains are never found. This was the case, for example, for Didier Gallot, a 55-year-old hiker who has not been seen since October 2017 in the Balaïtous-Artouste-Migouélou area.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

https://www.ouest-france.fr/region-...-pyrenees-il-y-a-8-mois-elle-lance-un-7824989

Anne-Cécile Hondeville disappeared eight months ago, on 24 October 2021, during a hike in the Balaïtous sector (Hautes-Pyrénées). After being interrupted for many months because of the snow, the search will not officially resume. The family of the 50-year-old is appealing to all hikers who might discover the slightest clue.

For nearly eight months Valérie Hondeville has been getting up every morning with concern. She has had no news of her wife Anne-Cécile since 24 October 2021. On that day, the fifty-year-old left on her own to climb Balaïtous, a mountain range in the Hautes-Pyrénées. "She was supposed to be gone for three days but we have never seen her since she left."

The experienced hiker had planned to sleep each night at the Larribet refuge. "We know that she slept there on Sunday night and that she never came back", Valérie Hondeville tells us. Used to this kind of expedition, her spouse was very well equipped: backpack, walking sticks, GPS watch, food... " She had a mobile phone but she turned it off in the car park before starting her hike.

The disappearance of Anne-Cecile Hondeville was reported to the authorities on Wednesday 27 October 2021. A large rescue operation was set up in France and Spain. Members of the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoon (PGHM) of the Hautes-Pyrénées and the CRS mountain police combed the Balaïtous sector. The gendarmes found her sleeping bag, her food and a few changes of clothes in the refuge.

But the search for her quickly came to an end. "A few days after the operation was set up, the weather became capricious and the snow arrived. So everything was stopped," Valérie Hondeville explains. And the data from her GPS watch could not be used. At the moment, the authorities think that she was the victim of a fall.

Almost eight months after the disappearance of her companion, the snow has melted and Valérie Hondeville has resumed the investigation, alone. "For the search to resume officially, an object belonging to her must be found." The family of the hiker is therefore appealing for help to all those who might discover the slightest clue. They are counting in particular on the return of hikers to the massif.

"A backpack, a walking stick or any other object can put us on the trail. I ask them to be vigilant and not just look at their feet. They should not hesitate to report any discovery," says the 50-year-old. She has also taken the initiative of posting a search notice in all the refuges of the massif, on the French side as well as the Spanish side. "There are a lot of people passing through, so we have to take advantage of it. If we are to find her, it must happen now. It must be this summer or never."


Above all, the 50-year-old hopes to get answers. "The hardest thing is to wait. We need to have some closure, to mourn," she says, and she also has to deal with the questions of her two boys, aged 6 and 12. "Shortly after Anne-Cecile's disappearance, they were asking themselves a lot of questions. They said to themselves that it was not possible that she could not be found, that she could not disappear on a hiking trail." She hopes to be able to give them some answers soon.


BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Disparition d'Anne-Cécile au Balaïtous : son ex-femme demande de l'aide aux randonneurs

The hardest part for the mother is explaining the situation to the children, especially the youngest. "I think they know she is dead, but for them there is still hope. Two months ago, my twelve-year-old son was saying to me, 'Well, she's in an igloo and she managed to survive. Children are always looking for ways to find solutions for things that are actually unimaginable."

For Valerie, the situation is also very painful. The two women lived together for 27 years. "I am immensely sad. We have lived through a lot, we have a lot of memories, we have two beautiful and wonderful children," she explains. "To lose someone is complicated, but not to know is worse." Still, she remains hopeful that she will be reunited with her, even though she is sure she will be dead. "I can't imagine having to wait maybe a lifetime to find out what happened to her and where she is," she says.

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Disparition d'Anne-Cécile au Balaïtous : son corps retrouvé grâce à un randonneur

Disappearance of Anne-Cécile in the Balaïtous: remains found thanks to a hiker

The family of Anne-Cécile Hondeville has announced that the body of the hiker was found at the beginning of the week, in the Balaïtous sector. The 50-year-old woman from Béarn had been missing since the end of October, and several calls for witnesses had been launched.

This is the end of a terrible period of waiting, the relatives of the Béarnaise hiker communicate on Facebook to announce that Anne-Cécile Hondeville was found on August 15, 2022. She had been missing since 24 October 2021. According to the first details provided by her ex-partner, "she probably suffered a bad fall between the Scissors Gap and the Michaud shelter while following, on the Spanish side, the ridge line leading to the Balaïtous." The rescuers were able to find her thanks to the help of a hiker.

"A hiker found one of her shoes," wrote Valérie Hondeville on social networks, adding that he "called the gendarmerie and gave the GPS coordinates of his find. This is what allowed the search to go ahead, according to her: "With this new information, the PGHM and the Guardia Civil actively searched a well-targeted area and discovered her."

Last June, Valérie Hondeville launched a new appeal on Facebook to ask walkers to be vigilant, attentive to the slightest clue found on the edge of a path. Today, she thanks those who helped her: "A big thank you to all of you who passed on the news of her disappearance and who looked around the mountain. You all have been the people who have brought our wait to an end. We will finally be able to put an end to our questions and anxieties and say goodbye to her. Anne-Cécile and Valérie Hondeville have two children together aged 6 and 11.


BBM


RIP Anne-Cécile, forever in the mountains

 

[ZaZara]

Hautes-Pyrénées : le corps d'Anne-Cécile Hondeville, disparue depuis 10 mois au Balaïtous, probablement retrouvé en Espagne


The remains without life of a woman were found on Monday by French and Spanish police on the Spanish side of the Balaïtous massif. This is probably be Anne-Cecile Hondeville, a woman from Béarn who disappeared in the Hautes-Pyrénées during a hike in the mountains.

"Everything suggests that this could be Anne-Cecile Hondeville, who has been missing in the Balaïtous massif since the end of October. But a certain amount of caution is still required. Adjutant Gilles Péluhet, commander of the Cauterets gendarmerie brigade, who has been leading the investigation into the disappearance of the hiker from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques for the past ten months, confirms that a lifeless body and personal belongings belonging to Anne-Cécile Hondeville were discovered this Monday 15 August in Spain.

"A hiker found a shoe on the Spanish side of the Balaïtous massif last week and gave us a GPS location. On Monday, we took advantage of the only favourable weather window, and significant human resources were deployed by the Hautes-Pyrénées gendarmerie and the Guardia Civil in Spain to search in this sector," according to the investigation director.

Thus, the rescuers from the Peloton de gendarmerie de haute montagne de Pierrrefitte-Nestalas (Pghm 65), accompanied by the gendarmes of Argelès-Gazost and Cauterets, joined their Spanish counterparts on the spot. Pedestrian patrols from the Guardia Civil and the "Grupos de rescate especial de intervención en montaña (GREIM)" from Ponticos, a Spanish mountain rescue unit similar to the French Pghm, were mobilised. Together, the forces of law and order searched the area until they discovered a lifeless body in the afternoon.

"Next to the body was Mrs Hondeville's mountain backpack. But the investigations, which have now been handed over to the Spanish justice system, are continuing, and analyses will be carried out to ascertain the identity of the victim," Adjutant Péluhet explained.


BBM


The weather has been terrible, with lots of rain.

 

[ZaZara]

La Guàrdia Civil rescata el cos sense vida d'Anne, l'alpinista desapareguda el 2021


All efforts were focused on the lower area of the Gran Diagonal, towards the Frondiellas glacier.

After several hours of tracking, a member of the Greim de Panticosa observed a blue lump in the distance. With a gendarme he went down to that point, into an area rarely hiked by people. In fact, it had a very complicated access.

There they found the lifeless body of the 50-year-old French mountaineer from Béarn. Her rucksack and a number of personal belongings were also found next to her. After receiving the authorization of the court of custody of Jaca, they raised the corpse. With the support of the French police, Greim staff moved the body to a more accessible area. From there, it was be taken to the Panticosa barracks. Anne Cécile Hondeville's body was then referred to the forensic repository for an autopsy.

Pending the results of the DNA tests, everything indicates that this is the French woman who disappeared in October 2021. This is what the Institut Armat reports in a press release.

The events happened ten months ago when Anne was planning to hike a trail leaving France for the area of the Balaitus massif in Spain. But, quickly, her family loses track of her and stops hearing from her. After her disappearance was reported, the French National Gendarmerie started a tracing operation and, for this reason, requested help from Spain. Specifically, the members of Greim de Panticosa and the helicopter of the Air Unit of Huesca. At the time, the search tasks had to be suspended due to the complicated weather conditions. And the snow in the area made the work very difficult. However, they tried to do their best to continue with the work.

When the weather allowed it and the snow disappeared, they focused, above all, on the area of the Gran Diagonal del Balaitus. Last July, Spain received a new request for help from the French authorities. A French guide climbing the slope of Palas spotted an object he thought might be Anne. It turned out to be a mountain rope.

This case is quite reminiscent of what happened almost two years ago at the Salvaguardia peak in Benasque. There, another British mountaineer was lost on the trail in November 2020. Her body didn't finally turn up until July 2021 when a hiker came across a bone that belonged to this 37-year-old woman. After a few days, her partner found the remainder of the corpse and the belongings.


BBM

 

[RickshawFan]

Hautes-Pyrénées. Les recherches pour retrouver Anne-Cécile reprennent dans le Balaïtous

Hautes-Pyrénées. The search for Anne-Cécile resumes in the Balaïtous

The hiker disappeared at the end of October 2021. Now that the snow has melted, the search for Anne-Cecile Hondeville has resumed in the Hautes-Pyrénées.

On Sunday 24 October 2021, Anne-Cécile Hondeville, a 50-year-old woman from Béarn, set off to climb the Balaïtous in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Alone. An experienced hiker, she regularly undertakes this type of solo expedition. She was due to return on Wednesday 27 October 2021. Her ex-partner had tried to contact her without success during her journey. Her mother finally alerted the emergency services.

But despite the considerable resources put in place by the Compagnie républicaine de sécurité (CRS) of Gavarnie, she remained untraceable. And in November, with the arrival of winter and its snow, the search had to be stopped.

"As soon as the snow melts, we'll go back. We'll do helicopter flights again. And of course, we will direct our training and education in the area," the CRS told Actu Occitanie in November 2021.

This is now the case. And the family is also making an appeal. "Today it is because the hikes will resume in the Balaïtous, as soon as the snow has melted, that we are once again communicating about her," her relatives stress on social networks.

"We need you to search this mountain, we need you to find out why, where, how", they say.

The family said that Anne-Cecile had left with "a big blue backpack". Anne-Cecile is 50 years of age and 1.70m tall. She has a "slim build and short dark brown hair".

"Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call 17. Her two sons, aged 6 and 12, and her family are counting on you to help her," Valerie Hondeville added on Facebook.

The area is vast and steep, so the help of all hikers is welcome to to the search team. Sometimes, despite the considerable resources put in place, people who have disappeared in the mountains are never found. This was the case, for example, for Didier Gallot, a 55-year-old hiker who has not been seen since October 2017 in the Balaïtous-Artouste-Migouélou area.


BBM

Jumped out at me….Unlike the Dingley case, family members let the official searchers do their thing. The Dingley case became complicated because a family member involved himself in the search when winter weather was quickly coming in and wouldn’t accept ground-level SAR decisionmaking, e.g. in the area to be searched, as though they weren't doing their job. SAR proved to be correct (about every aspect, actually) and clearly did not appreciate the distractions.
There are additional concerns that a non-professional, acting on his own, might also have an accident or contaminate the scene, tying up SAR resources when they were already stretched thin, and time was of the essence.
Thankfully, in this year’s case, SAR was able to unravel much of the mystery early, there was clarity about the route, etc., and there doesn’t seem to have been noisy pushback that SAR wasn't doing its job. Family understood here that SAR were professionals and experienced, and not finding a missing hiker doesn’t equate to incompetence.
Evidently, SAR invited other experienced climbers to join in the search when it was not going to complicate the search to do so. This led to the find.
IMO this case (with recovery, and a relatively quick discovery) is almost the best case scenario in SAR efforts to locate a deceased person in wild areas. I am glad that this family was able to get closure.

***
As a side note, this was an experienced mountaineer, she was within her abilities, there was no vague plan of a bivouac in the elements, she was well-provisioned and equipped, and she wore bright clothes. These all contributed to the success of the SAR mission.

 

[Mary-Belle]

Not victim blaming… and i get following your passion… but why hike alone… especially when you have two young children at home who love you and need you.

I’m sure many have been successful on this hike. But when they’re not successful it’s so tragic.

 

[ZaZara]

Jumped out at me….Unlike the Dingley case, family members let the official searchers do their thing. The Dingley case became complicated because a family member involved himself in the search when winter weather was quickly coming in and wouldn’t accept ground-level SAR decisionmaking, e.g. in the area to be searched, as though they weren't doing their job. SAR proved to be correct (about every aspect, actually) and clearly did not appreciate the distractions.
There are additional concerns that a non-professional, acting on his own, might also have an accident or contaminate the scene, tying up SAR resources when they were already stretched thin, and time was of the essence.
Thankfully, in this year’s case, SAR was able to unravel much of the mystery early, there was clarity about the route, etc., and there doesn’t seem to have been noisy pushback that SAR wasn't doing its job. Family understood here that SAR were professionals and experienced, and not finding a missing hiker doesn’t equate to incompetence.
Evidently, SAR invited other experienced climbers to join in the search when it was not going to complicate the search to do so. This led to the find.
IMO this case (with recovery, and a relatively quick discovery) is almost the best case scenario in SAR efforts to locate a deceased person in wild areas. I am glad that this family was able to get closure.

***
As a side note, this was an experienced mountaineer, she was within her abilities, there was no vague plan of a bivouac in the elements, she was well-provisioned and equipped, and she wore bright clothes. These all contributed to the success of the SAR mission.

Not sure what your point is. Anne-Cécile Hondeville went missing in October 24 (2021) and was found on August 15 (2022). Esther Dingley went missing November 24 (2020) and her remains were located on July 23 and August 9 (2021). Not much difference in time IMO, but calculated in weeks or months, Esther Dingley was found sooner.

 

[ZaZara]

Not victim blaming… and i get following your passion… but why hike alone… especially when you have two young children at home who love you and need you.

I’m sure many have been successful on this hike. But when they’re not successful it’s so tragic.

It is not an easy hike. Here's a video:

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Desciption of the trail Larribet - Balaitous:

Balaïtous (3144m) via the Grande Diagonale (French normal route)

Hike down steeply on the Spanish side over scree and grass and turn SE as soon as the trail allows. Follow a cairned trail over rocks (and sometimes snow) and climb up rather steeply to reach a giant rock, Rocher du Déjeuner. Here the Abri de Michau (2700m) is located, a natural shelter under rocks (place for 6, extremely basic). Turn left at this shelter and follow cairns that lead E and NE. At first the path is not very clear, but you will still find cairns and higher up the path becomes very clear again. Descend a little when you catch sight of the Grande Diagonale, a diagonal line of rocks that provides a logical way up. Soon you are climbing only on rocks on the Grande Diagonale. The trail is narrow at certain points and there is little room for mistakes, but mostly there is little exposure. As you approach the end of the Grande Diagonale (3066m), you will see red paint flashes on the rocks. Follow these instead of going all the way to the Brèche des Isards. The trail will lead you along two (very short) exposed passages (max II+) where you need to use your hands.