Found Deceased Spain - Esther Dingley, from UK, missing in the Pyrenees, November 2020 #5

[Owlpellet]

Except one thing you must always do is tell people where you are going, what you are going and when you are (exactly) expected back. Because it only takes a slip or a trip and suddenly you need rescuing.... It's utterly irresponsible to go hiking in the winter, at altitude with no companion and/or method of summoning aid, on trails which are essentially closed....Although this does point to a level of recklessness which, as others have suggested, may indicate her state of mind. She may not have been suicidal, but there would appear to be a lack of care for her own wellbeing.

But didn’t she do that from the top of Pic de Sauvegard? She phoned Dan then her parents to discuss her route and preparations we were told. I think that was the first place she had mobile phone coverage. We don’t have all the details of that, just some excerpts from texts with Dan. It seems to me she was doing the circular route anti-clockwise as Dan said, (and recommended by the person she met) with a little bit of leeway for changes depending on conditions. (Which is always the case). If she had deviated from the route communicated I think she would have endeavoured to let them know as soon as she had mobile reception again. I think all this uncertainty about her route is just spiralling speculation on our part, encouraged by SAR not being able to find her in initial searches and believing that she never reached that refuge on the French side an hour or so’s walk away and total confusion in the tabloids confusing the border with a path westwards along an imaginary ridge.

 

[Hexe]

She had also downloaded all the maps onto her phone. I think she was much more capable, experienced and responsible than people are giving her credit for. She had done at least one (summer) version of the UK Mountain Leadership training and had a lot of days on the hill. She had very good equipment and looking at a photo of her oatmeal, chia, raison and cinnamon porridge, I reckon she had a good supply of food with her, just not the kind of food that would impress someone carrying tuna and baked potatoes

A head of lettuce, couple of pepper bells and some dried oats are not a good food supply for an overnight hike, especially in winter. It's way not enough of calories.

 

[Owlpellet]

A head of lettuce, couple of pepper bells and some dried oats are not a good food supply for an overnight hike, especially in winter. It's way not enough of calories.

You don’t know what she was carrying. She was very fit and healthy...”glowing” with health, I’d say. You need to eat well to do that. She has a photo on her fb page of oatmeal, chia, raison and cinnamon porridge. Add some coconut oil and nuts and that’s good hill food! Light weight too. She probably had flap jacks, oatcakes and a bag of nuts and raisons for quick scoffing imo.

I worked for a few years as a mountain leader and did my share of rescues. So I do know that some people are irresponsible idiots, but I really don’t think she was in that category.

 

[annpats]

I worked for a few years as a mountain leader and did my share of rescues. So I do know that some people are irresponsible idiots, but I really don’t think she was in that category.

No, she wasn't an irresponsoble idiot.

But she made mistakes for November. The food & equipment she took may have been fine for the summer, but not the early winter.

We know she was asking other hikers if they had any food they could give her. That alone is an indication of lack of food and also preparedness.

 

[Hexe]

You don’t know what she was carrying.

Stuff I described in my previous post comes from the relation of the tourist that shared tuna and potato with Esther.

She was very fit and healthy...”glowing” with health, I’d say. You need to eat well to do that.

I'd say some decent light and a couple of filters can make one glow with health too.

 

[Owlpellet]

We know she was asking other hikers if they had any food they could give her. That alone is an indication of lack of food and also preparedness.

Well, you could be right, but my own interpretation is that she hadn’t been able to find much in the way of fresh fruit and veg and so as a vegan, she was trying to “cadge” some. Maybe the shop wasn’t open on Sunday or something. I don’t think we should read too much into it. Coming off the hill, I’d have been happy to give her any battered fruit I hadn’t eaten

 

[Owlpellet]

Stuff I described in my previous post comes from the relation of the tourist that shared tuna and potato with Esther.



I'd say some decent light and a couple of filters can make one glow with health too.

Tuna and potato woman wouldn’t have been impressed with Esther’s vegan contributions to the meal. I used to take up pre-cooked stews myself. But her porridge mixture was good and in my country, people survived traipsing about mountains on it for hundreds of years.

And, short of going into her rucksack, how was anyone to know what food she had? Esther may just have been showing what she intended eating that evening. They were not fluent in one another’s languages.

 

[windrower]

It's obvious that Esther is a big part of any hiking and children's books written by Dan Colgate, but she is listed as editor of his hiking books - at best. I think that's harsh since they both lived the same 6 years of hiking and they both contributed to the book. They should have been equal co-authors of all books - in my opinion. Instead, they appear competitive. They released a couple of children's books about their dogs. With Esther gone, is that the end of future books for children? Is Dan Colgate listed as a co-author for the children's books?

I recall that when I first looked at their book releases, I was surprised that Esther was not named as a co-author of the hiking books. That omission could be something that would not feel good for her.

rsabbm

So maybe ED was trying to prove something.

As an author, I am surprised and saddened and angry that ED was not considered a co-author of the travel and hiking books.

Talk about being diminished and minimized.

I don’t care who thought what or what rationale was given for the choice to put only DC’s name as author, it isn’t right. ED walked/hiked/traveled the same miles he did, and I find it extremely hard to believe she had absolutely no contribution to the writing aspect of their endeavors.

Actually, even if she had no input as a writer, the mere fact of the shared experiences SHOULD have been enough for her to get author credit.

I also don’t care to hear that she “agreed” to the single author designation. Because I know how some such “agreements” are reached.

The books were self-published, so there is really no excuse for ED to have not been given credit as an author. ED and DC had full control over how the books look and are presented. (Or was it just DC who had control?)

As a member of the writing and publishing communities for over thirty years, I’ve met many co-authors, and the successful teams were ones who didn’t care how much or what work either did on their projects, they were full partnerships. Partners got full billing as authors, regardless if one did more draft writing and one did more editing and one took on more of the business end of things.

Maybe ED felt DC was dismissive of her contributions to their lifestyle documentation. It feels that way to me with just his name as author on the books. (And in a very large font, too.) Even when the subtitles reflect a “we” making the trips, still, just his name as author.

The normal protocol for book cover is also not followed with the pet books. The illustrator KP is not noted separately, as such, but as an author, along with DC and ED. Which, maybe she was. But that would be unusual, and my research didn’t allude to her helping to write the books.

My apologies for the long post about the books, but I’ve been bothered for a while now about that aspect of their relationship.

 

[Hexe]

Tuna and potato woman wouldn’t have been impressed with Esther’s vegan contributions to the meal.

It's not about Esther's meal being vegan. It's about the food being not nutritious enough. Esther spent whole day hiking and was supposed to spent a late autumn night in an unheated refuge. She needed a lot of calories to get the energy for another day of hiking and to keep herself warm. If you want to beliefe her provisions were adequate, that's your right, but let me stay with my belief that a meal that could provide roughly around 500 kcal was far not enough for a hiker. Thank you.

 

[Jmoose]

It's not about Esther's meal being vegan. It's about the food being not nutritious enough. Esther spent whole day hiking and was supposed to spent a late autumn night in an unheated refuge. She needed a lot of calories to get the energy for another day of hiking and to keep herself warm. If you want to beliefe her provisions were adequate, that's your right, but let me stay with my belief that a meal that could provide roughly around 500 kcal was far not enough for a hiker. Thank you.

I agree-not enough calories, regardless of whether or not the food items were vegan.

 

[Owlpellet]

It's not about Esther's meal being vegan. It's about the food being not nutritious enough. Esther spent whole day hiking and was supposed to spent a late autumn night in an unheated refuge. She needed a lot of calories to get the energy for another day of hiking and to keep herself warm. If you want to beliefe her provisions were adequate, that's your right, but let me stay with my belief that a meal that could provide roughly around 500 kcal was far not enough for a hiker. Thank you.

Agreed. I would expect her to be consuming about 3000 to 3500 calories over the course of the day in total. We just differ in our perception of how she was getting that.

 

[Hatty]

rsabbm

So maybe ED was trying to prove something.

As an author, I am surprised and saddened and angry that ED was not considered a co-author of the travel and hiking books.

Talk about being diminished and minimized.

I don’t care who thought what or what rationale was given for the choice to put only DC’s name as author, it isn’t right. ED walked/hiked/traveled the same miles he did, and I find it extremely hard to believe she had absolutely no contribution to the writing aspect of their endeavors.

Actually, even if she had no input as a writer, the mere fact of the shared experiences SHOULD have been enough for her to get author credit.

I also don’t care to hear that she “agreed” to the single author designation. Because I know how some such “agreements” are reached.

The books were self-published, so there is really no excuse for ED to have not been given credit as an author. ED and DC had full control over how the books look and are presented. (Or was it just DC who had control?)

As a member of the writing and publishing communities for over thirty years, I’ve met many co-authors, and the successful teams were ones who didn’t care how much or what work either did on their projects, they were full partnerships. Partners got full billing as authors, regardless if one did more draft writing and one did more editing and one took on more of the business end of things.

Maybe ED felt DC was dismissive of her contributions to their lifestyle documentation. It feels that way to me with just his name as author on the books. (And in a very large font, too.) Even when the subtitles reflect a “we” making the trips, still, just his name as author.

The normal protocol for book cover is also not followed with the pet books. The illustrator KP is not noted separately, as such, but as an author, along with DC and ED. Which, maybe she was. But that would be unusual, and my research didn’t allude to her helping to write the books.

My apologies for the long post about the books, but I’ve been bothered for a while now about that aspect of their relationship.

Without knowing the facts, this is perhaps a tad judgemental don’t you think? There could have been all sorts of reasons for DC being the sole author. ED may not have actually wanted to be a co-author, for example. Sorry but it feels unfair to me to make such assumptions.

 

[Hatty]

It's not about Esther's meal being vegan. It's about the food being not nutritious enough. Esther spent whole day hiking and was supposed to spent a late autumn night in an unheated refuge. She needed a lot of calories to get the energy for another day of hiking and to keep herself warm. If you want to beliefe her provisions were adequate, that's your right, but let me stay with my belief that a meal that could provide roughly around 500 kcal was far not enough for a hiker. Thank you.

I’m not sure we know exactly what food she had in her rucksack unless I missed something? We know she asked someone for some fruit but as Owlpellet pointed out this may be because she simply hadn’t been able to get any fresh fruit.

She may have been adequately stocked with other nutritious food.

 

[Steve13]

She was prepared for sleeping on the hill. Probably hoping to get into the refuge because it would be a nicer place to be than a tent. There's space to stand up whilst getting changed, shelter for cooking, possibly a fireplace and best of all you don't need to pack up and carry a wet tent in the morning. It would be a nice bonus if there was an open winter room, and not a life-or-death disaster if there wasn't.



What makes you say that? The dossier says she was carrying a paper map and I've not seen anything else which suggests otherwise?

The dossier is full of inconsistencies and critical omissions, and in all of this there is only one source. This is not to criticise anyone in particular, and of course people are subject to stress, but the dossier really can't be taken as an impartial or unchallengeable source.

 

[Steve13]

Well that wasn't really the point I was trying to make Steve. I personally think it's right and proper that only a selection was released, it would be too intrusive and unreasonable to expect more IMO. As to whether that selection biases the story, we can't know that without seeing the rest.

I will admit now though that the apparent vagueness on the planned route is looking more of an issue to me. "Might dip into France" - there should have been no "might" about it if she was following planned routes that she had informed DC about in the event of any mishaps. Some of the recent theories up thread - that ED may have actually decided to round the other way - are starting to look more plausible to me now in explaining the silence the next day and the lack of signs of a visit the at Refuge de Venasque.

But for all we know DC may have submitted more information to LE (eg. messages maybe including copies of her maps/routes), that does back up the anti-clockwise route with R de V as the overnight destination on 22nd.

Sure, but let's just stick to the dossier. It stresses the super conditions and ED's great skills and preparedness, when there is plenty of evidence to suggest these ideas are nonsense. And it's literally impossible to judge the messages' tone without seeing them all in context. For example, if there are many unseen messages expressing ED's unhappiness then this flags the ones not doing so as a wholly contrived selection. So if you release some without the others, you're driving a particular narrative. Another example: Does anyone seriously believe that ED's trip was regular and planned, and that she left the gite in good spirit and morale, and that the relationship was in good order? Dossier says so, in spite of piles of evidence suggesting the contrary (including someone prepared to give multiple statements to several nation's police departments. These are dismissed by DC as 'anecdotes', when in fact the witness would be committing an offence if the statements were not true). Is there any evidence of why folk were so extraordinarily confident of ED's return on 25 Nov, after a month of constantly delaying her return, that the alarm wasn't raised for 3 days, when she could have been dying? Dossier doesn't say so. These extraordinary gaps are of profound significance. <modsnip>

 

[tarabull]

Im throwing this out here because I have felt it from the beginning...I think there is a possibility Esther has an eating disorder...IMHO FWIW. (Based on appearance alone...)

 

[Grouse]

I’m not sure we know exactly what food she had in her rucksack unless I missed something? We know she asked someone for some fruit but as Owlpellet pointed out this may be because she simply hadn’t been able to get any fresh fruit.

She may have been adequately stocked with other nutritious food.

It's not about the final trip when she asked for fruit @Hatty , I believe this is in reference to the overnight trek/climb she made with the Lithuanian girl a few days before, and whether or not we believe the statement the tabloids published - 'Esther only took dried oats, a red pepper and a small lettuce. I ended up sharing the food I'd taken for myself when we reached a refuge for the night called Refugio de Pescadores, which included a can of tuna and potatoes we heated up in the evening and an apple the following morning."

Missing hiker Esther Dingley had love life problems says witness as British police called in to help | Daily Mail Online

 

[fridaybaker]

Yikes! We are now back into the eating/food discussion, which was really dealt with quite thoroughly in an earlier thread.

Tarabull, Esther did have an "issue", although not known if a full blown, diagnosed, "eating disorder", earlier in her life and the trekking/camping lifestyle and its challenges were part of dealing with that. I don't remember the details exactly, but you can find comments of hers about eating challenges in her blog posts. Interestingly, they both had food issues: Esther's were emotional/psychological, while Dan's were physical.

Anyway food -the lack thereof; the asking other people for; the seemingly intentional reliance of others on for access to; all do provoke lots of questions as to her food preparedness on this particular hike. However, it seems there are two camps here which will never converge: Those who think Esther was woefully unprepared, and those who think she was likely well prepared.

I don't have hiking experience, but my take on Esther's hike is that she was quite unprepared, sadly, leadership classes or no. Everything points to very little food (Have we ever heard of her carrying extra food? Emergency rations?) very little, even if good, gear; virtually no emergency equipment in the form of signalling/locating devices, first aid gear, etc., all while hiking alone on essentially closed trails in late November in the Pyrenees.

 

[RickshawFan]

She had also downloaded all the maps onto her phone.

Snipped for focus.
The screen of the phone is much too small to get the detail and context for a backcountry trip. GPS won't work in "weather" because it can't see the satellites.This is why an actual map and compass are on the "10 essentials".

This is what experience looks like: https://onewomanwalks.com/2020/10/26/the-difficulty-just-isnt-easing/
Consider this blog is a context a month before ED's chosen trip. As will be clear, the ability to walk in the mountains does not reflect experience. It's about athleticism.
Also note this blogger's description of her kit. It reflects where she is, what she's doing, the time of year, terrain, availability of shelter, climate, re-supply, her capabilities, the risks she's willing to take. It reflects experience. She has a slightly smaller pack than ED's, but the same design. https://onewomanwalks.com/?s=kit&submit=Search

 

[RickshawFan]

Agreed. I would expect her to be consuming about 3000 to 3500 calories over the course of the day in total. We just differ in our perception of how she was getting that.

She actually may have been burning closer to 6000 calories per day. I know that's typical for an AT thruhiker, and ED had just been up from the valley to the top of the Pic de S two days in a row: that's a big calorie burner. And she had been hiking all summer. That turns you into a calorie burning machine.