Tick bite and pneumonia
The Russian Mountaineering Federation announced the death of 35-year-old current national ice climbing champion Alena Vlasova.
“Alena Vlasova passed away in the prime of her life. Alena is the current Russian champion in ice climbing. We still don’t believe it. In the statement made by the federation, it was said: “We mourn and extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends.”
Vlasova died of a complicated disease. Details of what happened to the athlete from Kirov were announced by the Mountaineering Federation of the Sverdlovsk Region:
“At the beginning of June, Alena was bitten by a tick. Pneumonia caused 70 percent damage to the lungs, and the heart stopped on October 5…”
The official group of the Federation on the VK social network announced that the cause of Vlasova’s death was meningeal encephalitis caused by a tick bite at the dacha in June 2024. As a result of the infection, the athlete developed pneumonia, affecting 70% of his lungs. The athlete spent the last three months on a ventilator and died of a heart attack.
Alena Vlasova was survived by her husband and ten-year-old daughter.
Farewell to the athlete will take place on October 9.
In February this year, Vlasova paired with Nikita Glazyrin to win the doubles race at the Russian Mountaineering Championships in Tomsk. Vlasova won her gold medal on the birthday of her husband, who called this victory a gift to him in his social networks.
“She is no longer with us. May she remain in our hearts as a cheerful, kind, open to everyone, beloved mother, wife, daughter, friend, as in this photo,” wrote Maxim Vlasov, who is also a mountaineering athlete, on his VK page.
Mountaineers had an accident in Nepal
This is the second tragedy in Russian mountaineering in the last few days. It was previously known that a group of local climbers had an accident while climbing Dhaulagiri Mountain in Nepal.
On October 6, a group of five men began climbing to the top of the mountain from a high-altitude camp, and communication with them was lost. A rescue helicopter later found all five dead at an altitude of 7,100 metres. Presumably the group fell from an altitude of 7600 meters.
According to the Himalayan Times, Alexander Dusheiko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko and Dmitry Shpilevoy were killed. Valery Shamalo, who did not feel well in the camp and did not participate in the climb, was caught by rescuers.
“A flight took place in the morning hours. The climber Valera Shamalo, who had previously felt unwell and went down to the camp below, was taken out from an altitude of 6100 meters and evacuated to the hospital. The men were found. Everyone died, the ligament was torn,” wrote Anna Piunova, a representative of the Russian mountaineering community, on her social networks.