WHILE scaling the mighty Nanga Parbat commonly known as ‘Killer Mountain’, two mountaineers were hit by an avalanche. British climber Tom Ballard, 30, and Italy’s Daniele Nardi, 42, have been missing since Feb 24.

The two set out on Feb 22, making it to the fourth base camp the following day. The pair last made contact on Feb 24 from an elevation of some 6,300 metres on Nanga Parbat.

Ballard is the son of Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to scale Mount Everest alone. She died at age 33 while descending the K2 summit. Nardi had attempted the Nanga Parbat summit in winter several times in the past.

Search teams with the help of Pakistan Army have been engaged in a search mission but owing to bad weather in the mountainous region they were unable to find the missing mountaineers.

The search team, headed by Spaniard Alex Txikon and experienced Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara familiar with the peak, went on foot and used drones to search for the climbers.

Bad weather twice forced the search teams to halt the operation, but Pakistani army helicopters flew even after Pakistan shut its airspace over escalation with India.

Asif Murtaza
Gilgit-Baltistan

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019