Utah rocket engineer met his soulmate later in life... but tragedy struck when adventurous pair summited treacherous Himalayan mountain

By WILL POTTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 17:20, 4 June 2026 | Updated: 17:20, 4 June 2026 A retired Air Force rocket engineer says he has been left heartbroken after his mountaineer girlfriend died in an avalanche on one of the world's highest peaks.  Dave Ashley, 51, says he did all he could to save his partner Shelley Johannesen, 53, when their attempt to summit Mount Makalu in the Himalayas on May 11 went horribly wrong and she tragically died in his arms on the mountain.  The pair met each other in 2023 after they each got divorced, and they threw themselves into their whirlwind mid-life romance and their passion for mountaineering.  Together, they climbed some of the world's toughest mountains including Mount Kilimanjaro, Ecuador’s Chimborazo, and several peaks in Nepal's Himalayas range.  Ashley - who had also previously summited the world's highest peak Everest without Johannesen - had founded his own hiking expedition company DASH Adventures in 2023, and he says he used it as a way of facilitating their love for the outdoors.  But Ashley said their dream trip to summit Makalu last month turned into a nightmare, when Johannesen and her sherpa were knocked down the peak by a loose slab of ice following an avalanche.  Their climbing group were being battered by 60mph icy winds, and Ashley said he trekked for two hours down the mountain to find Johannesen severely injured and just 10 feet from a sheer cliff edge.  Ashley told the Salt Lake Tribune he unfurled a sleeping bag and wrapped it around Johannesen and himself to shield them from the elements while they waited for help, as Johannesen slowly dipped out of consciousness and eventually died hours later.  He told the Salt Lake Tribune his sherpa warned him to leave Johannesen to get help or he also risked dying on the mountain, but he said he repeatedly said back, 'I can't leave Shelley... I can't leave Shelley.'  Dave Ashley, 51, says he shielded his mountaineer girlfriend Shelley Johannesen, 53, for hours on Mount Makalu in the Himalayas last month when she was hit by an ice sheet in an avalanche, before she tragically died in his arms  The mountaineering couple climbed many of the world's highest peaks together, but Ashley said their trip to climb Mount Makalu ended in tragedy when they were hit by a severe storm and avalanche last month  Ashley said he has been left devastated by Johannesen's death at 23,400 feet, writing in a Facebook post that the experience has been 'utterly soul crushing.'  He shared a picture of himself weeping into the camera as he said he was working to collect her ashes in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and return them to their home in Utah.  Johannesen's tragic death on the mountain brought an abrupt and unexpected end to her mountaineering career, which Ashley said was a later life passion that she was immediately talented at.  'If she had found climbing earlier in life, she probably would have been a pretty renowned high-elevation climber,' he said.  'She had a lot left to live,' added her friend Beth Downing to the Tribune.  'But she also really lived what she had. Especially in the last 10 years or so, since she had chosen a life that prioritized adventure.' Ashley said he and Johannesen fell madly in love following their respective divorces and became obsessed with mountaineering, summiting a number of the world's highest peaks together and sharing their lust for life on social media. He said she helped him with his post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms that he developed in his time as an Air Force rocket engineer, and said she called herself his service dog for her ability to calm him in stressful situations.  But he said nothing could have prepared them for the treacherous conditions they faced on Mount Makalu, with their expedition turning into tragedy after summiting the 27,838-foot mountain peak. Ashley shared a weeping image of himself as he returned to their home in Utah, saying he has been left devastated by the death of his girlfriend in the Himalayas  Mount Makalu (pictured) is the world's fifth highest mountain, but Ashley said even when they first hit rough weather he was not concerned because ' Johannesen's loved ones said she threw herself into her passion for travel and the outdoors following her divorce, and said she 'had chosen a life that prioritized adventure' In their two-day trek back down the mountain, Ashley said they planned to descend from Camp III to the much lower Camp II base so they could recover from the high-altitude - but a severe storm halted their progress.  Heavy snowfall forced them to spend the night of May 10 at Camp III, but Ashley said despite running low on oxygen nobody in their group of experienced climbers felt they were in serious danger.  'We were told, ‘Hey, the winds are going to be a little higher,’ but, again, nobody thought, ‘Hey, you should stay at Camp III a third night, because the snow is not good, or the winds are too high,'' Ashley said. 'Nobody thought that. Makalu just does not have avalanches.'  He recalled Johannesen and her sherpa were tied to a guide rope in front of him when a slab of ice dislodged and slammed into them, knocking out the rope and sending them tumbling down the mountain.  Ashley recalled finding the pair 10 feet from a cliff edge and severely injured, as he said they 'picked a really bad spot not to die.'  He said her guide, Tawa Sherpa, suffered a broken back from the fall, while Johannesen couldn't stand up.  Their altitude of 23,400 feet was too high for a helicopter rescue, and they were forced to wait hours for potential help to arrive.  One rescue party turned around due to the storm, and Ashley lost several fingers and a toe to frostbite as he protected his girlfriend from the icy winds for hours. Ashley founded his own hiking expedition company DASH Adventures in 2023, and he says he used it as a way of facilitating their love for the outdoors Johannesen was a prodigious climber who had previously summited some of the world's toughest peaks before losing her life on the mountain  Ashley seen at the bedside of Johannesen's guide Tawa Sherpa, who suffered a broken back in the fall on the mountain  Eventually, Johannesen lost consciousness and died in his arms, a fate that Ashley said he and his girlfriend knew was a risk with their extreme outdoor lifestyle.  'We knew this kind of thing could happen. You climb enough mountains like this, you know,' Ashley told the Tribune. 'And we had talked, and we were like, ‘You know what? If we go, that’s OK. We’re choosing this life.’ Neither of us really wanted to end up 95 and in a nursing home and taking medications and complaining about our pains. 'We just didn’t think it would catch us in this particular stance. We’ve done things more dangerous than this.' After making his own way down the mountain and to safety, Ashley has since returned to their home in Utah, where he says he is still in shock and is grieving the loss of his partner.  He said he does not plan to give up mountaineering, and said Johannesen's death was a constant reminder to live life to the fullest. 'Love with your whole heart,' he said, 'because you just don’t know.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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