Haunting last selfie Brit hiker sent to boyfriend on top of 9,000ft mountain before vanishing a week ago in the Pyrenees
A BRITISH hiker sent her boyfriend a selfie from a 9,000ft mountain before vanishing more than a week ago.
Rescue teams combed the harsh Pyrenees terrain with helicopters and sniffer dogs over the weekend hoping to find missing Esther Dingley, 37.
Esther last spoke to partner Dan Colegate via WhatsApp eight days ago while scaling Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border.
She hasn’t been seen or heard from since since 4pm on November 22.
Dan wrote on Facebook on Saturday: "I'm broken. Shattered to report that my beloved Esther, the person who taught me how to feel, is missing.
"She has was last seen six days ago when she sent me this photo. Search and rescue teams have so far found no trace of her.
"The only purpose of this post is to ask for prayers, thoughts, candles and whatever you have.
"I've not been saying anything, but this wonderful person believes in the power of positive thought and right now I'll take anything if it means that she can be found. I need her back. I can't face the alternative."
Esther and Dan, from Durham, quit their jobs in 2014 to tour Europe in a campervan for a year and kept going with their five dogs.
They have posted photos on of them scaling mountains across the continent over the past six years.
Experienced hiker Esther left Dan on a farm in Gascony last month and set out to complete the Pyrenees trail on her own.
They should have met up again last Wednesday.
'GROWING CONCERN'
A spokesman for emergency services in Bagnères-de-Luchon said: "The search intensified on Friday.
"All available resources are being used in the research, but there is growing concern for her safety."
The Spanish civil guard's GREIM unit is also involved in the search.
Police found her car where she had parked in Benasque, on the Spanish side of the border.
A spokesman said: “Searches began on November 26, involving both GREIM specialists together with Huesca’s aerial unit in coordination with a Gendarmerie mountain rescue team in Bagneres de Luchon the other side of the border and another helicopter belonging to that unit.
“If anyone has any information about the missing woman, we urge them to contact us immediately.”
A source close to the case added: “The difficulty the search teams are facing is that it’s not clear what route the missing woman had intended to take.
“It would be a lot easier if there was a single path the search could focus on but that is not the case.
“But no one’s giving up hope just yet. This is still an active aerial and ground search.”
Snow has been falling in the area where she began her solo hike a week ago, with temperatures falling to -2C at night.
With fears for Esther’s safety in the cold weather, French rescuers had to ask for a halt to comments on their Facebook page about her technically breaking lockdown rules.
“We are facing an emergency situation,” they stressed.
Esther was last seen in an area notorious for hiking accidents.
A young woman who was an experienced mountain walker suffered a fatal fall there as recently as 2017.
Dan told the his girlfriend had been away for a month before she went missing and their last conversation was about "how excited we were to see each other as this was her last trip before driving back".
She had started walking from Benasque in Spain on November 21 and planed to spend Sunday night at Refuge Venasque in France.
Dan said searches had yielded "no sign at all" and temperatures were dropping with light snow fall in the area.
He said she has previously completed solo treks, adding: "She always tried to keep in touch but sometimes on her hikes was out of contact for a couple of days.
"This is not looking good."
Describing her adventures on Facebook days before going missing, Esther said she found herself "racing the weather" during one hike and pushing her "comfort zone" as she headed out alone in difficult conditions.
The couple, who have been together for 18 years, were prompted to begin their campervan travels after Dan survived a flesh-eating bug.
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They have lived in France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Liechtenstein.
Their blog documents how they hiked Mont Blanc, crashed a hot air balloon by the Nile, and dived in the Mediterranean Sea.
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They also took in a stray dog in Spain - not realising she was pregnant. She and her four pups became their "furry companions".
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