Txt msg to London saves Alps woman

Mountain rescue: the Swiss Alps, where Rachel Kelsey was stranded

Adventurer Rachel Kelsey was rescued from a blizzard-hit mountain today after using her mobile phone to send a desperate SOS text message to a friend in London.


Kelsey, 32, star of Channel 4's Super Human series and one of only four women in the world to have passed the SAS selection process, was stranded in the Alps in sub-zero temperatures for two nights before being winched to safety from the 10,000ft mountain by helicopter.

The rescue team struggled through severe weather for an hour and a half to reach the Briton and her unnamed male companion. Both climbers were suffering from hypothermia. Kelsey, a fully-qualified climbing instructor, is having medical treatment but is expected to be well enough to travel home within the next few days.

The friend who received the SOS, Avery Cunliffe, 32, from Battersea, told how he was woken at 1.30am today by the loud text bleep on his mobile phone. The message read: "Need helicopter rescue off north ridge of Piz Badile, Switzerland."

The freelance photographer immediately phoned Swiss rescue services. The climbers had been forced to shelter behind a large boulder on a thin, exposed granite ridge 300 metres from the summit of Piz Badile near Lake Como. Hearing of their ordeal today, Mr Cunliffe realised how vital the text had been. "When I heard Rachel had been found I was dancing around my flat," he said.

"It took them around one and a half hours of attempts to get her off because the weather was so bad. They had to lower over 70 metres of rope to get to her. I got a text from her to say she was still waiting to be rescued so it is such a relief. She was surviving."

Mr Cunliffe said Kelsey had served in the Army and is a "tough cookie". He added: "She is a very experienced mountaineer and climbing instructor but anyone can get caught in bad weather."

In Zurich, Gary Baumann of the Swiss mountain rescue team said: "The climb is popular but it is also a very difficult one. It was a really bad storm and the winds were very strong. I spoke to her but we reduced words to a minimum because her phone battery was not good. She seemed pretty calm but she knew she was in trouble."

Kelsey's physical prowess has secured her roles in many TV programmes and films for sport, adventure, stuntwork, and advertising campaigns. She represented Great Britain in the Eco Challenge 2000 adventure race.

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