RSBM
It's amazing to me how misinformation enters the news media and then spreads like a virus.
The official statement issued in the early days was not "she had undertaken a hike from Port de la Glere..."
The actual statement was released by French Search and Rescue, not the police. Search and Rescue stated "
The area envisaged for her hike extends from the port of Glèrere to the port of Venasque (French and Spanish slopes). Anyone who has seen or crossed this hiker..."
PGHM Luchon
IMO SAR were not describing her intended route. They were describing the boundaries of an area of a map, from west to east, and on both north and south slopes. If you were in that area between the November 22 and the 25, and saw someone like the photo, please call SAR.
Surely we have all seen missing persons alerts that state 'the person was in the area of x and y streets.' The person's route is not being described.
This French site got the info correct IMO:
"The areas prioritised (
for the search) are those that Ms Dingley had planned to visit during her hike, including between the Port de la Glère and the Port de Vénasque. The experienced walker began hiking from Benasque in Spain, and had planned to stay at the Refuge Vénasque on Monday night, her partner said."
Search for British hiker missing in Pyrenees
However, we later got a precise description of her route:
"Dingley was on the Chemin de l’Impératrice (Empress Path) hiking route
via Port de Venasque before heading for Porte de la Glère in the Luchon valley"
Gendarmes to scale down search for British hiker Esther Dingley in Pyrenees
It seems very obvious to me, comparing the quoted news report in the OP, with the official quote in the Guardian, she was not hiking from Glere to Venasque, she was hiking from Venasque to Glere (I simplifly the names to just make it absolutely crystal clear).
Unfortunately, there are no online maps of that hiking route. If I had a high-quality topo map of that section of the Pyrenees, I could trace it on the map (kind of ruining the map) and then scan it in to show people. But I can't/won't do that. That's what the news media are supposed to do, instead of getting graphic designers to carelessly create, and then gleefully publishing for the world, incorrect, unverified maps.
The best online map I could find is this one:
Salvaguardia desde los Llanos del Hospital
ETA: the link does not show her whole intended route, but it shows the sidetrack to the peak, and then the route in red, to the Refuge and continuing on, her intended route, that goes in a loop back to cross the mountains at La Glere.
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