らっともんきー retweetou
A Russian student who disappeared in the Himalayas in 2021 during a solo trek was discovered four years later by National Geographic journalists as the guardian of a high-altitude Buddhist monastery in Nepal.
24-year-old Alina Vetrova left Annapurna Base Camp and never returned. A rescue operation lasted three weeks, but an avalanche left her presumed dead. Her parents held a symbolic funeral in Novosibirsk.
In early 2025, however, a crew filming a documentary about lost monasteries discovered a young European-looking woman dressed in monastic robes and speaking fluent Tibetan and Nepali in a remote mountain temple at an altitude of 4,800 meters.
It turns out that Alina, who had lost consciousness from altitude sickness, was found by hermit monks, who cared for her for several months with herbal infusions. When she regained consciousness, the passes were already covered in snow - the descent was impossible until summer. During these months, she began to study Tibetan medicine and meditation.
According to the abbot, Alina had developed a rare gift - she could accurately recognize medicinal mountain herbs by their aroma, which the monks took as a sign of a reborn soul. She was given the name Tenzin Dolma and began training to succeed the monastery's apothecary, a position not held by anyone for 40 years.
Alina is now in charge of a collection of over 600 species of high-altitude plants. She wears a traditional burgundy robe, her head is shaved, and on her wrists she wears ritual yak bone bracelets, which she is allowed to wear as a sign of status. A dot of saffron paste is applied to her forehead daily during the morning ceremony.
When journalists ask her if she wants to return, Alina replies in Russian with a strong accent: “I’m already home. The mountains do not let out those they choose.”
Her parents have flown to Kathmandu. The meeting is scheduled for the end of the month.
(Via Shiv Kar
Courtesy Rajiv Tyagi wall from Facebook)
English
