Botched expedition: Mystery shrouds fate of missing climbers in Skardu
Sources told The Express Tribune that the three climbers – Gerfried Goschl, Cedric Larcher and Nisar Hussian; of Austrian, Swiss and Pakistani origin respectively – went on an expedition to summit the 8,068 metre-high peak on January 13.
The climbers were last spotted climbing the southern side of the peak at 8:30 am on Friday by two group members, Adam and Janusz, who had already scaled the mountain from through the northern side.
According to Hagzer, a member of the Polish team at the K2 Base Camp, two rescue choppers were requested from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to assist in the rescue efforts.
However, the choppers had not arrived till the filing of this report.
“The weather conditions were favourable today for the rescue operation but no one came,” Hagzer confirmed.
The missing climbers are part of the international GI expedition, which is being managed by a private tour company called Adventure Tour Pakistan, sources added.
One of the group members, Alex Txikon, said he was considering “going up and searching for them” if there is no outside help. However, weather conditions worsened again, impeding his efforts.
In addition, according to sources, the climbers at Base Camp are not exactly sure on which side of the mountain their companions are.
No news
When contacted, Abu Zafar, Secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan, said there was no news about the missing climbers.
However, according to some reports received, the three mountaineers had succeeded in scaling the peak.
“There are liaison officers in each group and they have the duty to contact the CAA in case of emergency. However, no contact has been made from the climbers’ side,” he maintained.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Adventure Tour Pakistan’s Managing Director Muhammad Ali said that efforts are underway to locate the missing mountaineers, adding that the situation will be clearer by Monday morning.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2012.
COMMENTS (5)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732603002-0/lamar-(4)1732603002-0-405x300.webp "article")
1720420084-0/brad-pitt-(2)1720420084-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732607286-0/Untitled-design-(2)1732607286-0-270x192.webp "belarus president receives guard of honour at pm house")
1732600231-0/BeFunk_§_]__-(50)1732600231-0.jpg "miscreants want bloodshed not revolution pm shehbaz on pti protest")
Mounting climbing is the best adventure in the world. For Pakistan it brings tourism and foreign exchange.This needs courage , determination and love to achieve some thing impossible. Pakistani porter learn allot from these teams. Beside determination courage you need money and time. All over the world there are school for mountaineering. Pakistan also have one high altitude school for army only.One day they may take civilian enthuses.
This extreme sports are meant for tough men and women. Not for drawing room adventurers. Same as Scuba Diving (day or night) or exploring a sunken ship in deep waters.
Pointless 'adventure' in my opinion, same as car racing, totally over-rated and inflicting costs on themselves and society.
CAA has got nothing to do with Search and Rescue SAR operations being conducted on G-1. Artur and Janusz are not the team members of the International Team rather they are the members of the Polish Team which scaled the peak on March 9. They are helping out with the SAR operations. Artur is the leader of the Poles. Goschl and his two other team members made the summit push some three days ago after receiving encouraging weather report. They attempted to scale the peak from south and climb down from the normal route on the north, pulling in an unprecedented ascent and Traverse. They were last seen some 400 metres short of the 8,068 meter peak by one of the Polish climbers and have been missing for the last 48 hours. Temperatures at 7000metres are in the range of -50 Celsius. Two Military choppers are conducting the SAR operations. pakistan-explorer