Partner of missing hiker Esther Dingley says there is ‘no sign of her anywhere’ as search operation scaled back

Dan Colegate, 38, has taken it upon himself to retrace Esther Dingley’s steps in the mountains on the border between France and Spain after she disappeared more than a week ago  

Credit: Facebook

The partner of a British hiker missing in the Pyrenees says there is “no sign of her anywhere” as officials begin to scale back their search operation.

Dan Colegate, 38, has taken it upon himself to retrace Esther Dingley’s steps in the mountains on the border between France and Spain after she disappeared more than a week ago.

The couple had been travelling across Europe in a camper van for six years, but Ms Dingley vanished while hiking alone from the Porte de la Glere to the Port de Venasque.

The 37-year-old last made contact on November 22 when she sent a selfie from the Pic de Sauvegarde mountain and was reported missing three days later.

Ms Dingley had been in Spain for a month while Mr Colegate remained at a farmhouse in Gascony, France, but the couple were due to be reunited last week.

Missing British hiker

Last night, Mr Colegate took to social media, saying: “I just wanted to write a short thank you for all of the support and messages that have arrived in the past few days. I’ve been told that the story has received a lot of attention in the media though I’ve not had a chance to look myself.

“I want to write a more complete update soon, but as of now there is still no sign of Esther anywhere in the area she was intending to explore, despite extensive searching from both sides of the border.

“I’m going to do some more walking myself now before the sun goes down. Will try and write a more complete update later.”

Last night, Pierre Gaillard of the PGMH mountain gendarmes in Luchon said that with heavy snow closing in, the search was being scaled back.

“Now there is bad weather coming so we have to stop,” he told the Telegraph.

“We had people in the area on Tuesday, and a drone, but now we have to stop because of the snow.

“We will continue when there are breaks in the weather, but we are moving into a new phase to try and find out why she disappeared.

“This is done by another service of the Gendarmerie.”

Mr Gaillard said they had been looking in streams and rivers but had found “nothing”.

“We will continue, but we just don’t know where she is. People saw her in Spain, but not in France,” he added.