GILGIT: The body of missing US climber Sarah Mallory Geis was recovered from Broad Peak (8,047 metres) on Friday, 22 days after she went missing in a deadly avalanche, while a separate team was dispatched to retrieve the body of Pakistani climber Dr Asma Mushtaq from Spantik Peak.
“Finally, the dead body of Sarah Mallory Geis, the missing US climber, has been found on the slopes of Broad Peak by local volunteer rescuers,” Alpine Club of Pakistan President Maj Gen Irfan Arshad Khan said in a statement.
“The body is being brought to base camp for onward dispatch to her family,” he added.
Ms Geis was among members of a 10-member expedition that went missing on July 30 after a deadly avalanche on Broad Peak.
Team dispatched to retrieve Dr Asma’s body from Spantik
Alpine Club of Pakistan General Secretary Ayaz Shigri told Dawn that during an earlier search and rescue operation, a leg believed to belong to Ms Geis had been recovered and subsequently airlifted to Skardu.
Mr Shigri said local porters accompanying a trekking team had reached Broad Peak base camp, from where volunteers climbed towards an advanced camp to continue the search.
The volunteers found Ms Geis’s body near the advance camp on Thursday.
“The body has been identified as that of Sarah Mallory Geis. It will be shifted to Broad Peak base camp and then airlifted to Skardu by Pakistan Army helicopters,” Mr Shigri said.
He added that the search for Nawang Thindu Sherpa would continue.
Spantik recovery mission
In a separate development, a team was dispatched to Spantik Peak to retrieve the body of Pakistani climber Dr Asma Mushtaq, 34, who died at an altitude of around 6,250 metres while descending from the summit of the 7,027-metre peak in Shigar district.
Dr Mushtaq’s body is currently at Camp 3. She was part of a Karakoram Calling Treks expedition and died while descending from the summit after suffering from high-altitude sickness.
Mr Shigri said Dr Mushtaq’s family had arrived in Skardu and a team of six local climbers had been sent to bring her body down to Spantik base camp.
Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026
