Harry Shimmin, a British tourist, had a very scary moment a few days ago. While hiking in the Tian Shan massif in Kyrgyzstan, whose highest peak rises to more than 7,439 meters in altitude, he almost got trapped by an avalanche he was filming, reports BFMTV .
That day, the hiker was accompanied by eight other Britons and an American. Once they reached the highest point of their route, Harry Shimmin moved away from the group to take some photos. “I heard the glacier break off behind me. This is where the video begins,” he explains in his Instagram post relating this incredible story.
Two people slightly injured
On the images, we can thus see a gigantic avalanche descending the mountain at full speed. A speed that the tourist had obviously not anticipated, who shouts “Oh my God” in English in the video. “I had already been there for a few minutes so I knew there was a place to take shelter right next to me”, specifies the hiker, who waited for the last second to move. The rest of the group was slightly further from the avalanche.
Eventually, luckily, Harry Shimmin walked away unscathed. Two other tourists were slightly injured. According to him, his group would have been particularly lucky, especially since the rest of the hike would have prevented them from being able to take shelter. This event recalls the fall of the Marmolada glacier in the Italian Alps, which killed eleven people in early July. So many events which seem to be the direct consequences of the particularly high temperatures noted since the beginning of the season in high attitude.