French alpinist Mathieu Maynadier and former Croatian alpine ski racer Ivica Kostelic did not expect to end their multi-sport adventure in a hospital bed. The pair had to be rescued after a storm swept their kayaks offshore in the Adriatic Sea.
The two athletes and filmmaker Bertrand Delapierre were attempting the first recorded ski traverse of the Albanian Alps, also known as the Accursed Mountains. The range lies in coastal southeastern Europe and spans the borders of Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo.
The trio combined ski mountaineering, paragliding, cycling, and a final kayaking segment down the Bojana River to the Adriatic. The traverse was to showcase the region’s potential for extreme sports.
Swept out to sea
On March 10, after four days, they reached Lake Skadar. From there, they kayaked about 30km down the Bojana River to its outlet.
But as the river opened into the Adriatic, strong winds and waves of three to four meters swept Kostelic and Maynadier out to sea. Delapierre managed to reach the Albanian shore and alerted rescue services.
The Montenegro military responded. Five hours after the distress call, at around 10 pm, a naval vessel rescued Maynadier and Kostelic. A helicopter provided thermal imagery to locate the pair.
The extreme weather complicated the rescue, but finally, Kostelic and Maynadier were recovered and taken to a hospital in Montenegro. They were released the following day.
”We were tired and cold after four hours of fighting the waves, but…everything is now fine,” wrote Maynadier on social media.
He admits they made a mistake by entering the ocean in those conditions.