ISLAMABAD: Three South Korean mountaineers were severely injured in an avalanche last week, the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) confirmed on Wednesday, marking the first mountaineering accident of the year in the Karakorum range.

“The injured have been transferred to Skardu for better medical attention,” said ACP Secretary, Karrar Haidri.

The South Korean climbers, led by Eun Soo Koo, were attempting to scale Latok I, which stands 7,145 meters tall.

Latok is a small cluster of four dramatic rock peaks, Latok I, II, III and IV. All the summits are notable for their extreme technical difficulty and have been the scene of some of the most difficult high altitude climbing action anywhere in the world.

Latok I was first climbed in 1979 by a Japanese expedition. Mr Haidri said that Latok I is an extremely challenging peak to climb and is often compared with the 8,000 meter peaks that some mountaineers prefer.

According to the ACP two of the climbers were seriously hurt in the back and chest and sustained shoulder injuries.

The ACP said that aerial rescue operations were delayed by bad weather for nearly 24 hours before the injured climbers could be extracted and flown to a medical facility.

They were evacuated on June 22 to a hospital in Skardu, which is the last stop before the Karakorum range begins.

According to Mr Haidri, the climbers were flown back home from Pakistan for treatment.

Meanwhile, one of the more anticipated expeditions of the year by veteran climber and explorer Mike Horn appears to have come to an end before it began.

Mr Horn and his partner climbed partway up Nanga Parbat to remove equipment they deposited at the 5,600 meter mark a few days ago, to the disappointment of many in the mountaineering community.

“We have decided to return to Islamabad due to [a] bad weather forecast for the next 10 days,” the Swiss adventurer said in a post on his fan page.

According to the ACP, it snowed at the base camp for over 12 days, with large amounts of snow seen above the 7,000 meter mark. Heavy snow made the mountain ‘very’ dangerous, said the ACP and with more snow predicted over the next 10 days the situation is expected to worsen.

“The mountain will stay here so we can always come back to amazing Pakistan,” Mike Horn said in his post.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2018