ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: Czech mountaineer Zdenek Hruby fell to death on August 9 while returning to base camp after abandoning his attempt to scale the 8,068 metres high Gasherbrum I.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed on August 10 that the Czech mountaineer had captured the peak of Gasherbrum II and decided to climb the 8,068 metres high Gasherbrum 1 through different route but fell and died.

ACP regretted to confirm the death of 57-years-old famous Czech mountaineer who was also the President of Czech Mountaineering Federation.

“There is no tapping out in this cage fight, especially when the opponent is an 8,000 metres plus mountain. It has been confirmed from the Base Camp of the mountain that Zdenek Hruby had fallen,” said Member Executive Council ACP, Karrar Haidri.

He confirmed that Zdenek Hruby and his partner Marek Holecek were attempting to climb the Gasherbrum I from a new route for the past several days.

“He was too tired to go on the new route, the two-man team decided to quit their attempt and started descending. On August 9, the Base Camp team watched the two climbers coming down through binoculars. However, they noticed that suddenly one climber had disappeared.

“Minutes later, Marek Holecek announced that Zdenek Hruby had fallen down, and after reaching him Holecek announced that Hruby had died,” said Karrar Haidri sharing the details of the accident.

According to his partner, Zdenek Hruby fell over 1,000 metres into a crevasse.

The two climbers had attempted the same route four years ago in 2009. However, they had to abort the summit bid at 7,500 metres after Zdenek developed health problems - ruptured gastric ulcer and practically he couldn’t move or absorb water and food, the Alpine Club official explained.

After consultations with Zdenek Hruby’s family in Czech Republic, it was decided by the team to bury his body in a crevasse below Camp I. Karrar Haidri explained how the Czech climber appeared invincible. Zdenek Hruby had climbed eight peaks out of the total fourteen including Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrums I and II.

The Alpine Club said that two other members of the expedition, Tomas Petrecek and Marek Novotny, had earlier climbed Gasherbrum I on July 28, through normal route.

The Alpine Club said that the President ACP Col Manzoor Hussain had sent his condolences to the Czech Mountaineering Federation and the bereaved family over Hruby’s death.