Savnet person (Sist sett på Spiterstulen) / missing person in Jotunheimen

[old_hand]

Many thanks, Detlef, for your PM. So the article about Marit concerns a young girl who drowned in Jotunheimen in August of 1980. That makes it 26 years ago, Marijke's age... Truly a painful coincidence.

And if there are reasons why the parents of Marit know for sure that she drówned there yet in all those years never ány trace of her was found back, that is indeed discouraging. And it makes me understand your post here even better.

From the article it seems to me that Marit had a holiday-job (summerjob) in Leirvassbu. And she hiked from Lom to Leirdalen. It is this area that, I believe, is investigated extensively now in the search for Marijke, both by the Norwegian teams as well as the Dutch this week.

I don't know what else to say than that my heart goes out to Marit's parents, as it does to the relatives, friends and colleagues of Marijke Vervoort as well.

[Ragnar]

And if there are reasons why the parents of Marit know for sure that she drówned there yet in all those years never ány trace of her was found back, that is indeed discouraging. And it makes me understand your post here even better.

According to the GD article, she slipped and felt out into the river.

17 år gamle Marit skulle på stevne i Noregs Ungdomslag i Skjåk 21. august 1980. Dagen før skulle hun ta en tur oppom Leirvassbu der hun hadde hatt sommerjobb. Hun hadde avtalt med en annen jente, og hadde haiket oppover fra Lom og inn i Leirdalen. Jentene skulle kose og hygge seg og så dra til Skjåk.

De to jentene satt ved bredden akkurat der Leira renner ut i Bøvra.

Vertinnen på Leirvassbu kom kjørende. Marit spratt opp ved elvekanten da hun så sin tidligere arbeidsgiver komme kjørende i bil.

Så skjedde det fatale: Marit skled på en stein og forsvant ut i de strie elvestrømmene.

Det ble øyeblikkelig iverksatt leting i elva.

- Elvene i Jotunheimen var så store på den tiden. Det hadde regnet unormalt mye. Leira og Bøvre gikk helt grå og stinn av leire og brevann blandet med regn, minnes Hans Menkerud.

http://www.gd.no/artikkel.asp?Artid=187340

"17 years old Marit was going to attend a gathering in Skjåk arranged by "Norges Ungdomslag" (the norwegian youth assoiation) 21th of august 1980. The day before she wanted to make a visit to Leivassbu, where she (earlier) had god a summer job. She and another girl haiked up from Lom and in to Leirdalen. The girls wanted to have a nive and enjoyable time and then leave for Skjåk.

The two girls sat by the riverside just where Leira (river) connects with Bøvra (river)

The host at Leirvassbu (cabin) came driving (towards them). Marit "jumped" up by the riverside when she saw her earlier employer came driving in a car.

Then the fatal happened: Marit slipped on a rock an dissapeard into the strong rivercurrents.

There was an emediate search effort in the river.

- Rivers in Jotunheimen were at that time big. There had been more than normal precipitation. Leira and Bøvre were grey and saturated with mud and glacier water mixed with rain, Hans Mekerud remembers."

Da den nederlandske jenta ble borte, kom tankene om den unge jenta fra Lismarka tilbake, sier dagens lensmann i Lom, Steinar Angard. Han var betjent i Lom i 1980, og deltok i letingen etter Marit.

"When the dutch girl went missing, the thoughts about the young girl from Lismarka appeard again, says todays head of police (lensmann) in Lom, Steinar Angard. He was a police officer in Lom in 1980, and participated in the search efforts to find Marit"

[old_hand]

Thank you véry much, Ragnar.

I'm pretty speechless now. We dón't know for sure that Marijke Vervoort accidentally fell into a river; she may nót be in the water. But at the same time, that chance exists indeed. And to read here how someone can disappear forever in one of those wild rivers in Jotunheimen EVEN when a search is started immediately...

As said, speechless.

[old_hand]

Saturday 8th July: the 5th and final search-day

The final search-day has come to an end. Big frustration because we did not manage to find anything.

As announced, we have searched the last part of the way from Spiterstulen to the north. This was a road where the terrain alongside the road varied in width between 0 to 100 meters. This implied a constant adapting of the search-patterns. One moment everyone had to walk in line while the next moment required an entirely different position from eachother. However, it gave us the opportunity to work very efficiently and that is how we covered this area: very efficiently. The winds kept changing constantly, which forced us to adapt to the winds all the time too.

When the day was almost over, a number of the dogs showed a rising activity near a wood that went down towards the riverbank in a fairly steep manner (approx. 50 meters into the depth). The descent was too steep for the dogs and therefore too risky for them to be able to proceed and investigate this situation any further. Especially also because the dogs have now been searching for five whole days already. So John and Remy climbed through this wood "in line". Unfortunately, without success.

Finally Louise and John went to Spiterstulen to report us "out" while the rest of the group drove back to the hotel. There everything was made ready for departure. This upcoming night around 4 am and with mixed feelings we'll leave for Oslo.

Although much to our regret we have been unsuccessful in reaching our goal, the dogs deserve a big compliment. Also because of the difficult and heavy terrain, we did ask a lot from them but they have kept working really hard up to the last minute. Some of the dogs even wanted to continue searching with their paws being injured (damaged).

The mission team is due to arrive on Schiphol airport on July 9 with two separate flights:

(KLM) KL1144 at 2.15 pm and (SAS) SK823 at 2.45 pm.

Source: http://www.reddingshonden.nl/ ( "Nieuws" )

[old_hand]

Just to confirm that all members of the RHWW-team including their four dogs arrived safely on Amsterdam airport this afternoon, where they were awaited by a number of their relatives, colleagues and other contacts.

It was nice meeting them and having a bit of a chat. And it was nice meeting their dogs.

Here they are again, a photo made in Norway a few days ago:

I'd like to say a little more here, but later, about dogs: dogs with that special talent - regardless of their breed - that you need for this work.

For now it's definitely véry tough for Marijke's relatives, friends and colleagues to cope with the reality that also all the efforts of the past week, did not bring her back. Something that's frustrating and "heavy" in its own way for the RHWW organisation too.

It seems that the snow is meanwhile melting quite rapidly in Jotunheimen. So who knows what the policeforce in Lom can achieve in this summer season.

[old_hand]

Rescuedog-team returned from search for Marijke Vervoort (in Dutch, L1: "Limburg live")

The Norwegian police will search for the body of Marijke Vervoort from Venray in a canyon in the natural reserve near Lom.

A Dutch team with rescuedogs reported the suspicious location to the Norwegian police. The dogs warned at a canyon ("ravine"). A member of the rescuedog-team does not want to give the Vervoort family false hope. Possibly the dogs reacted to something else than a human body, for example an animal. 26 Year old Marijke Vervoort disappeared early June in the Norwegian natural reserve.

July 10th, 2006 09:53 h.

It's not my aim to continue this thread only by posting copy&paste news-translations all the time.

But the above message is a good example to show how in fact not all searchefforts are over. And how, after the police in Lom shared all the relevant information with the Dutch team upon arrival, the Dutch in return do the same.

[sam]

Some weeks ago I was attended by a relative on the missing of Marijke Vervoort at Jotunheimen. I got a small newspaper clip, which told that the search would be postponed until conditions would have changed.

The reason that my relative attended me on this event was because I have expercienced a comparable incident earlier this year, at Saltfjellet. I was on a solo ski-trip, got struck by an avalanche in a small river valley, I was so lucky to free myself from under the snow and ice and , after spending a night in a snow cave, was able to reach the Saltfjelletstua. 28 hours later I was picked up from this cabin by a helikopter of the 330 SQD from Bodø, 4 hours after the owner of the hotel where I planned to finish my trip has warned the police that I didn't show up.

What happened to me is only slightly comparable with what might have happened to Marijke. The main difference is of course: I was saved, she is still missing. But I can easily imagine how identical messages about me could have be read in the papers. My own family has suffered 4 hours of despair, between the moment of first alarm and the call ' he is found '. It was dreadfull for them, but an inconvenience compared with the pain that the family Vervoort is under. I feel very sorry for them.

Reading the messages that the members of this forum have posted, I was struck by the quantity of scenario's that they were able to construct from such limited information. You could also say: the less information, the more room for speculations. If this forum has an informative function towards the search parties, it could have been useful, but is that so?

I don't think I can contribute much to this specific case from my previous experience, I simply know too little about it. I happen to have visited the same area in winter, coming from Leirvassbu, spend one night in Spiterstulen, went to Glitterheim then and made a day-trip to Glittertind. As the first news that I read, was suggestive towards inexperience of Marijke - false, apparantly -, I could't imagine she would have gone up the steep rises from Spiterstulen. Combining the information in your postings that she broke off a trip up Galdhoppigen and announced no further plans nor signs in guestbooks, I would say thay she concluded not to be fit for the area and intended to return home.

But this is just another speculation. The fact that the police has concentrated it's search on the mountain area itself, even glaciers, shows that their information indicates towards different scenario's. From my own experience, I know how they work: from the information of the relatives a profile is drawn of the person: how experienced, how trained, how equipped? Combining these, and f.i. the wheater information, they construct the most likely scenario's. The fact that they researched on such a wide range shows that their information isn't specific either.

It can't be ignored here that the absence of a clear tourplan, communicated with the home front and the staff of huts in the area, limits the ability of the police to a pinpointed search-operation.

If Marijke really intended to go further into the area, she has overlooked the neccessity to leave such a plan at the cabin. I can imagine that she couldn't make a plan on beforehand - not having been their before, not knowing the exact conditions -. The moment she has decided what to do, she should have left a note. I hope this is not seen as a reproach towards her, it simply is a conclusion. It also says something about ' how the dutch are behaving in the mountains '. May be we are too self-concious. Mountain accidents are an abstraction to us. We are not confronted with them every week. May be we do think too lightly about these events, presuming that they will always happen to others and not to us. So, we don't follow all precautions.

I don't need to emphasize here that it's wise to be prepared for the worse when you go into the mountains. I myself thought I was well prepared and highly experienced. Until I met a situation which was new to me, but not uncommon. So I wasn't so experienced at all. This is allways hard to judge, and I think it's true what I have read somewhere else at this forum, that you can only judge your capacities in comparison with others, by going with a group.

I do go in groups - I made a trek around Kebnekaise the weeks before I went to Saltfjellet -, but I love to go alone. One of the main rules is: don't go alone into the mountains. But, even after my own experience, I still want to plead for the solo'ist. I don't know Marijke's intentions, I can only tell mine. It's simply so that I experience the magnitude of nature more intense, more impressive, more satisfying when I am alone. Somehow, the presence of a group creates a transparant shell between me and the surroundings. Being alone up there makes me feeling truly alive, truly happy. I can only hope that she has experienced the same.

[Etterforsker]

If you find one of your own relatives missing in Norway,

you schould engage a Norwegian Private Investigator who

will follow up every steps made by the local police and

work for others. Look up http://www.nopes.no

The Private Investigator will need some money in advance

to cover travell and stay at the actual location and a written permission

from the closest relatives.

Best regards

[old_hand]

If you find one of your own relatives missing in Norway,

you schould engage a Norwegian Private Investigator who

will follow up every steps made by the local police and

work for others. Look up http://www.nopes.no

The Private Investigator will need some money in advance

to cover travell and stay at the actual location and a written permission

from the closest relatives.

Best regards

So...., would the general users of this forum agree with this opinion? That, after all that has been investigated and tried out by Norwegian police and rescue organisations and by a Dutch dog-team as well, the relatives should or should've engaged a Norwegian private detective?

I notice it's Etterforsker's only post on this board. Would that be a rather normal policy for Norway (considering the environment/nature), to hire a private investigator in case a foreign tourist went missing from an environment like Jotunheimen National Park?

Mind you: I've never heard of anyone no more apart from the webmaster of the Reddingshonden website. So I have no idea of the present situation, nor of the developments (or new clues) in Norway of the past approx. three weeks.

@ sam,

Gréat post, yours! So honest, and understandable. But what a great pity that being alone to experience mother nature in the most direct and intense ways, can also be such a big risk if things go wrong...

[morten]

Old Hand: There's been no further news (to my knowledge) about this case in the norwegian media. Jotunheimen has been crossed by thousands of tourists in a summer that has been less snowy than normal. This strengthens the rivertheory in my book, although still anything is possible.

[Ragnar]

So...., would the general users of this forum agree with this opinion? That, after all that has been investigated and tried out by Norwegian police and rescue organisations and by a Dutch dog-team as well, the relatives should or should've engaged a Norwegian private detective?

I notice it's Etterforsker's only post on this board. Would that be a rather normal policy for Norway (considering the environment/nature), to hire a private investigator in case a foreign tourist went missing from an environment like Jotunheimen National Park?

Regarding hireing a private investigator: I do not see any benefits doing that in this case and I find the posting rather irrelevant. It might be more of an option in a more "general" missing person case (and by general I mean not missing in a nature/moutain area). However, I really doubt that is a common thing to do, except in very special situations.

[Ragnar]

New searches in mid-september:

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/hedmark_og_oppland/1.819122

I midten av september skal det gjennomføres søk i Uradalstjønn mellom Spiterstulen og Gjendebu, og ved Helstugubreen, forteller lennsmann i Lom, Steinar Angard

"In the mid-september new searches will be conducted in Urdalsstjønn (small lake) between Spiterstulen and Gjendebu (cabins), and by Helstugubreen (glacier), tells lennsmann (head of police) in Lom, Steinar Angard"

Not so much new information in this article, more of a summary. Also mentioned other media reports of glaciers melting/more dangerous cracks this summer

[Susanne]

hei,

here is another article in the gudbrandsdølen dagningen:

http://gd.no/artikkel.asp?Artid=190800

susanne

[panda]

At noen bare forsvinner slik er leit og skremmende.

Et konkret spørsmål: Har Tverråbreen blitt undersøkt ? Den ligger i et område ganske nært Spiterstulen uten at det pleier å være så veldig mange mennesker der.

Tidlig på året hender det at det ligger ganske mye snø rundt breen. Da kan det være vanskelig å se hvor breen begynner. Det er fullt mulig å forville seg ut på selve breen selv om man tror man går i kanten av den.

[GrendelRaptor8]

Omkommet person funnet med Besseggen. Se http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article715304.ece

[morten]

Ved vannkanten under Bukkelægret, ikke langt fra Besseggen - jaja, alt er jo relativt... Pussig, hvis vedkommende hadde falt utfor fjellet ved Bukkelægret ville vedkommende ikke havnet helt nede ved vannkanten. Det er vel kun enkelte steder lenger øst hvor fjellet er så bratt at et fall først ville stoppet helt nede ved Gjende. Men hvis man skal gå etter begrepene brukt ellers i artikkelen, må nok funnstedet tas med en stor klype salt.

Det kommer nok mer utfyllende informasjon etter hvert.

[nilsj]

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=127168

[Bjørja]

Det er nesten så en håper at det må være den savnede. Så får iallefall familien en utgang på det hele.

[nesneve]

Tok båten fra Gjendebu i dag morges, da sto det tre småbåter på motsatte side fra Bukkelægret, omtrent ved oppstigningen.

Håper egentlig for mannen i annens skyld at det er henne, så familien får ro. For sjansene for at hun skal bli funnet i live er vel slanke.

[Ragnar]

http://gd.no/artikkel.asp?Artid=192190

Kvinnen ble oppdaget av mannskapet på Gjende-båten Gjendine, som varslet politiet ved 08.30-tiden søndag morgen. Kvinnen lå i vannkanten cirka to kilometer vest for Memurubu på et sted som lokalt kalles Vinkjelleren.

Politiet utelukker ikke at det kan være den savnede nederlandske Marijke Vervoort, som nå er funnet. Kvinnen ble meldt savnet 4. juni i år etter at hun sjekket ut fra Spiterstulen.Store letemannskaper har i hele sommer lett etter den utenlandske kvinnen uten hell, og søket etter Marijke Vervoort ble innstilt 23. juni. Etter det GD kjenner til er det ingen andre personer som er meldt savnet i Jotunheimen. Liket av kvinnen er nå hentet opp av vannet - og skal nå identifiseres ved Rettsmedisinsk institutt i Oslo .

GD oppdaterer saken senere.

Short summary in english:

The woman was discovered by the crew of the boat "Gjendine" on the lake Gjende, who reported the sighting to the police at 08.30 sunday morning. The woman was located in the lake shore about two kilometers west of Memurubu, in a place known locally as "Vinkjelleren". The police do not rule out that it might be the missing dutch Marijke Vervoort, who may no have been found.

...

According to what GD has got of information, no other persons has been reported missing in Jotunheimen. The body has now been picked up of the lake and will be identified by Rettsmedisinsk institutt in Oslo.

[old_hand]

Words fail me, to be honest.

It's what you hópe for, every day again. It's what so many people have wórked for so hard: to try and find the missing woman báck. But then if one day it suddenly happens and it happens this way, there is little consolation or even relief. Just sadness.

Among the many Dutch online newsmedia that started publicising this news on Sunday evening, there are a few only that say the Lom police would know for sure that the woman now found is Marijke Vervoort. But the majority tries to stay on the safe side by saying it is very well possible it concerns her indeed.

I imagine it will not take long before the identification procedures are concluded. And I'm thinking of her parents and the rest of her family and friends, and how they'll deal with the stress and shock of this sudden discovery.

[Detlef]

Marijke funnet død

les her:

http://www.gd.no/artikkel.asp?Artid=192294

[Ragnar]

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/innenriks/article716271.ece

http://gd.no/artikkel.asp?Artid=192294

From GD:

Marijke funnet død

MARIJKE FUNNET: Det var den 26 år gamle Marijke Vorvoort fra Nederland, som ble funnet død i Jotunheimen i går. Legen døde av drukning.

English:

Marijke found dead

Marijke found: It was the 26 years old Marijke Vorvoort from the Netherlands, who was found dead in Jotunheimen yesterday. The doctor died of drowning.

LOM: Politiinspektør Olav Sørby bekrefter overfor GD at det var den savnede kvinnen som ble funnet i Gjende søndag morgen. Identifiseringen av henne ble foretatt på Rettsmedisinsk Institutt i Oslo i dag. Politibetjent Espen Eide fra Gudbrandsdal politidistrikt deltok i identifiseringen.

- Den sannsynlige dødsårsaken er drukning, sier politiinspektør Sørby. Han sier det ikke er mistanke om at det ligger noe kriminelt bak kvinnens forsvinning og død i Jotunheimen. Hun forlot Spiterstulen 4. juni for å gå tur i fjellheimen.

Kvinnens nederlandske familie ble underrettet søndag om at en kvinne var funnet død i Jotunheimen. I går, umiddelbart etter identifiseringen, fikk familien beskjed om resultatet.

- Det er godt for både pårørende og politiet at denne saken nå er oppklart, sier politiinspektør Olav Sørby.

LOM: Police inspector Olav Sørby confirms towards GD that it was the missing woman who was found at Gjende sunday morning. The identification of her was conducted by Rettsmedisisk institutt in Oslo today. Police sargent Espen Eide from Gubrandsdal police district participated in the identifying.

- The most probable cause of death is drowning, says police inpection Sørby. He says that there are no suspicion that anything criminal is connected with the womens dissapperance and death in Jotunheimen. She left Spiterstulen on 4th of june for a hike in the moutain area.

The woman's ducth family was notified sunday about a woman was found dead in Jotunheimen. Yesterday, right after the identifying, the family was informed about the result. - It is a good thing both for the relatives and for the police that this case now is solved, says Police inspector Olav Sørby

Also reported in this post:

https://www.fjellforum.no/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&controller=topic&id=6190

[sam]

Short summary in english:

The woman was discovered by the crew of the boat "Gjendine" on the lake Gjende, who reported the sighting to the police at 08.30 sunday morning. The woman was located in the lake shore about two kilometers west of Memurubu, in a place known locally as "Vinkjelleren".

So, she is found, and now, on Saturday 26, has also been identified. This seems to close the case.

I just took out my map of the area, to see where she has been found. I was surprised to have read in a newsitem which suggested that she might have slipped at Bessegen. "Bessegen, that is more than 2 daytrips from Spiterstulen, how could she have got so far?". Then she must have spent a night at Gjendebu or Memurubu. Looking at the map, I think it's more likely that she went for Gjendebu; for some reason didn't follow the trail down into Storådalen but stayed uphill on the trail to Memurubu. Arriving on the steep hills above Gjende, west from Memurubu, she could have tried to correct her mistake by going down by the trail at Bukkelaegret, which proved to be fatal.

[old_hand]

This seems to close the case.

Hi Sam, yes: it seems that way. And I'm assuming that her relatives will by now be making preparations for a closure ceremony, at home.

The Gudbrandsdølen Dagningen put a few more newsreports online ever since the discovery of the body a week ago. But as usual they're all archived meanwhile, so there's no point in posting links. Apparently someone found a hiking shoe ("fjellsko") on August 3rd and in the area ( ".....ikke langt fra Gjende, fant jeg en fjellsko som tydeligvis var skyllet på land. Skoen var delvis full av sand, men den var ikke gammel eller slitt. Størrelsen på skoen tilsa at det kunne være en kvinnesko."), and he contacted the police over his find. But "my Norwegian" isn't good enough to understand what, acc. to the article, Steinar Angard said regarding the shoe. If it belonged to Marijke, the spot where it was found may say something about the most likely area/place where she drowned.

And it does look - at least to me - as if many posters here with a lot of Jotunheimen-experience were right from the start: that, since she was hiking alone, there was a realistic risk of drowning if she would try to cross a glacierstream that time of the year.

Susanne, one of the other posters in this thread, e-mailed me to tell of her own experience six years ago somewhere in Norway, when she had to cross a wild mountainriver yet barely survived... She was on her own as well, and the discovery last week of the body that turned out to be Marijke's really "shook" Susanne again. Also because all of her own, frightening memories of that event, returned.

Susanne gave room to her strong thoughts and feelings last week by making a painting, a painting inspired by this tragedy with Marijke Vervoort. She sent me a scan by e-mail. It's moving, and beautiful. And then we wondered if perhaps Marijke's parents would appreciate seeing it, at any time in future. So since there are no contactdetails to contact them directly, I've done so via two people who are in contact with them. Naturally I hope that Susanne will receive a reaction.

In many online places (travelboards, websites, newssites) with postings or the latest news about Marijke Vervoort, people meanwhile expressed their condolences to her relatives, her friends and her colleagues in Rotterdam. I hope her relatives will somehow receive all those messages. After all, they were posted for them in the first place.

And with all the reactions since last week, a Dutch guy mailed me also on behalf of a few fellow-travellers from the U.K., the US and from Australia together with whom Marijke wandered through Bolivia some time ago. A holiday where they all had great fun, and he included a happy picture of all five of them - including Marijke - travelling in a jeep across Bolivia. The group sent their condolences by e-mail and with that photo. So to make sure their e-mail indeed reaches the relatives, I've forwarded it to the team at the Venray (Holland) policeforce that were in charge of this missing person "case". Got a confirmation from them shortly afterwards that they'll take proper care of that well-intended e-mail.

It's an enormous shame that with all this global backpacking and global travel and people going on holiday alone into potentially dangerous environments such as Jotunheimen (dangerous by its nature, not because of crimes or anything), we kéép losing very promising young adults to all sorts of accidents. Accidents or more importantly their deaths, that could perhaps have been prevented if they wouldn't have been alone, with no immediate help around. That's not just my personal opinion, it's an opinion several SAR-contacts expressed to me over e-mail lately. People who are professionally dealing with these kind of disappearances in popular traveldestinations worldwide.

In that sense the country of Nepal - home of Mount Everest and many other Himalayan peaks - is busy to implement a trekking registration certificate, and permit-system whereby solo trekkers will be discouraged to go out there all alone. Or at least the idea is that they will be better monitored, so in case they don't show up where they should arrive the next day, an alarm can be raised much sooner and a searchparty organised. It's not fully clear yet, also to the government of Nepal, what this system will look like exactly and what the additional costs will be. But I'm expecting you'll hear (more) about it in the not so far future.