Kelly Gielink (40) who grew up on the South Coast was found dead last Wednesday after she went missing on Gray’s Pass in the central Drakensberg on Sunday, September 22.
Kelly was a beauty therapist who relocated to Gauteng in 2008. She leaves behind her husband and two young children. On Saturday night she camped in the valley below Gray’s Pass with two of her friends.
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Early on Sunday morning, the trio set out to climb the pass. The two friends did not go very far and turned around to wait for Kelly, who had decided to carry on to the summit of the pass.
Her family, the Hulleys of Umtentweni, and the Tindells of Johannesburg said Kelly epitomized the saying ‘dynamite comes in small packages.’
“No task was too big and no request was left unattended, she had an incredible heart and impacted the lives of anyone she met. Although our hearts are broken, we are so grateful for the beautiful years we had with her. On behalf of the families, we would like to say a big thank you for all the love and support we have received during this tough period. Rest in peace our darling Kels – September 13, 1978, to September 22, 2019.”
No feat was too big for Kelly, and she summited Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2018, as hiking was a passion for her.
Gavin Raubenheimer, the search and rescue convener of Mountain Club South Africa KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Section said that at about 11.30am Kelly was seen by another group, just as she started descending the pass.
Later that day Kelly’s friends raised the alarm as she had not returned to camp.
The weather began to deteriorate on Sunday night and remained misty and rainy until Tuesday afternoon.
Late on Sunday afternoon, Mr Raubenheimer said the KZN Wildlife Monk’s Cowl ranger in-charge and three field staff set off for the search area.
They searched through the night and into the next day.
On Monday morning a joint team operation was set up between KZN Wildlife, the Mountain Club of South Africa and the Saps Search and Rescue Unit, which included four search dogs.
Mr Raubenheimer said a full rescue plan was drawn-up with the ops room at Monk’s Cowl.
Teams then had to leave on foot for the four hour hike to get to the search area.
A secondary base was set up at Keith Bushcamp below Gray’s Pass. Ground teams in five different sectors continued the search in thick mist.
By late Tuesday, the missing woman still had not been found.
“Then late on Tuesday there was a break in the weather and an air search began with two helicopters deployed. On the second sortie, the missing woman was spotted in a deep, narrow gully and appeared to have fallen about 25m. She was presumed dead,” Mr Raubenheimer said. On Wednesday morning, joint team members extracted her body from the gully, using ropes and a stretcher.
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