A French mountaineer rescued from Pakistan’s “Killer Mountain” has described how she was forced to abandon her weak climbing partner, descend alone in darkness and wait more than 24 hours for help while suffering altitude-induced hallucinations that made her take a shoe off in freezing conditions. 
 
 Elisabeth Revol, 37, returned to France after she was rescued on Sunday from Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak at 8,126 metres. She is being treated in a hospital in the Haute-Savoie region, where doctors are assessing whether she will require amputations because of frostbite in her hands and left foot. 
 
 In an interview with Agence France-Presse she recalled how rescuers urged her to leave her weak and bleeding fellow climber, the Polish mountaineer Tomek Mackiewicz, behind – something she said was “terrible and painful” to do. Rescuers were unable to reach Mackiewicz, a father of three, who had made six previous winter attempts to scale Nanga Parbat. There is almost no chance of him being found alive. 
 
 Revol was the first woman to scale the mountain in winter without oxygen or a sherpa. She told AFP: “We had hardly a second at the top. We had to rush to get down.” 
 
 Mackiewicz, who hadn’t worn a mask, said he could no longer see and by nightfall he had developed an eye inflammation. With him clinging to her shoulders, Revol began the hazardous descent in darkness. “At one point, he couldn’t breathe,” she told AFP. “He took off the protection he had in front of his mouth and he began to freeze. His nose became white and then his hands, his feet.” 
 
 They huddled overnight in a crevasse, but Mackiewicz’s condition was worsening. Revol said he had “blood streaming from his mouth”, a sign of a build up of fluid in the body, the ultimate stage of acute mountain sickness. She had sent several messages for help, and rescuers told her to descend to 6,000 metres. She said to Mackiewicz: “Listen, the helicopter will arrive late afternoon. I must go down, they’ll come to get you.” 
 
 Further down the mountain, when rescuers didn’t arrive, she spent another night sheltering in a crevasse. This time she had no tent or duvet, which she had left behind, but she was more worried for Mackiewicz. 
 
 “I had hallucinations during the night. I imagined that people were bringing me hot tea. A woman asked me if in return she could take my shoe. At that moment I automatically got up, took off my shoe and gave it to her. In the morning when I woke up I was only in my sock.” 
 
 Her shoe was nowhere to be seen. She had been without it for five hours and developed severe frostbite. 
 
 She heard helicopters but rescuers couldn’t land because of the wind. Facing what she feared was a third night in the open, she began to make a final descent, with wet gloves and frozen feet. She managed to reach one of the camps at around 3am, where she was found by elite rescue mountaineers who had been climbing in the dark to reach her in a hazardous operation. 
 
 
 
 Asked if she would ever climb again, she told AFP: “I think I will. I need this.” ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Elisabeth Revol describes her rescue from Nanga Parbat 
 
 A French mountaineer has described how she was forced to abandon her weak and ailing climbing partner in order to be rescued from one of Pakistan's most deadly Himalayan mountains. 
 
 Elisabeth Revol told AFP news agency that Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz's health worsened as they descended Nanga Parbat, nicknamed "Killer Mountain". 
 
 Only she was rescued by an elite Polish climbing team in a dramatic operation. 
 
 Doctors in France are now assessing whether she will require amputations. 
 
 Rescuers could not reach Mr Mackiewicz and it is thought unlikely he could have survived. 
 
 Among her recollections, Ms Revol said that altitude-induced hallucinations had caused her to take a shoe off in freezing conditions. 
 
 'Blood streaming from mouth' 
 
 The pair began climbing on 20 January, and within a few days were approaching the summit. 
 
 But shortly after they reached the peak of the 8,120m (26,640ft) mountain, Mr Mackiewicz complained that he could not see. 
 
 Ms Revol told AFP: "He hadn't used a mask because it was a bit hazy during the day and by nightfall he had ophthalmia [an inflammation of the eye]." 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Rescuers could not reach Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz 
 
 He then clung to her shoulders as they began the difficult descent in darkness. Mr Mackiewicz, she said, began to have trouble breathing. 
 
 "He took off the protection he had in front of his mouth and he began to freeze. His nose became white and then his hands, his feet." 
 
 They huddled overnight in a crevasse but his condition deteriorated further with "blood streaming from his mouth" - a sign of a build up of fluid in the body, the ultimate stage of acute altitude sickness. 
 
 Barefoot after hallucinations 
 
 She sent several messages for help and was told by rescuers to go down to 6,000m. She then left Mr Mackiewicz behind. "It wasn't a decision I made, it was imposed on me," she said. 
 
 Thinking that help would arrive quickly, Ms Revol left without carrying a tent or a duvet. When rescuers did not turn up, she was forced to spend another night in a crevasse. 
 
 Image copyright Adam Bielecki/Reuters Image caption Ms Revol (centre) at the base of the Nanga Parbat after her rescue 
 
 In the interview, she described having altitude-induced hallucinations. She imagined that people were bringing her hot tea, and that in order to thank them, she had to give them her shoe. 
 
 After being barefoot for five hours, Ms Revol developed frostbite. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption An elite Polish climbing team took part in the rescue operation 
 
 She heard helicopters but, because of the strong winds, they could not reach her. Fearing that she would have to spend another night there, Ms Revol began a final descent, with wet gloves and frozen feet, and managed to reach one of the rescue teams. 
 
 She was flown to hospital in Islamabad and then on to Switzerland, before being transported across the French border. 
 
 Doctors in the Haute-Savoie region of eastern France are now assessing whether she will require amputations to her hands and left foot due to frostbite. 
 
 Despite the ordeal, she has not ruled out climbing again, saying: "I need this." 
 
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– French climber Elisabeth Revol says that as she sheltered in a crevasse on Pakistan's "Killer Mountain," she thought people were bringing her hot tea—and she felt obliged to give them one of her shoes in return. In reality, she was alone, suffering altitude-induced hallucinations as she waited for a rescue team. Revol, who was brought down in a dramatic rescue effort Sunday, says she managed to reach the peak of 26,660-foot Nanga Parbat with climbing partner Tomasz Mackiewicz, but after they called for help, rescuers urged her to descend alone, Guardian reports. She says it was "terrible and painful" to leave Mackiewicz, who was weak, couldn't see, and was bleeding from the mouth because of acute mountain sickness. Revol, who is now recovering in a French hospital, tells AFP that she thought help would arrive quickly after she followed instructions to descend to around 20,000 feet, but she ended up spending a night sheltering with no tent or duvet in a crevasse, where she had the hallucinations—and woke up missing her left shoe. After hearing helicopters, she descended further, despite frozen feet, and met a Polish rescue team. They were unable to reach Mackiewicz, who is believed to have died on the mountain. Doctors say Revol, 37, might require amputations to her hands and left foot because of frostbite, the BBC reports. But when asked if she would ever climb again, Revol said: "I think I will. I need this." (Two climbers were lost on Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth-highest mountain, last year.)