The rescue operation accompanied by Nepali guides to search for stranded Pakistani climbers on Mount Nanga Parbat in Pakistan has been called off for the day due to bad weather, said Nepali guide Gelje Sherpa.
Record holding climber Shehroze Kashif and Fazal Ali had lost contact from Monday evening from 7,300 meter. The base camp staff saw the duo climbing down from Camp III.
The rescue helicopter flew from Skardu at 9 am for helicopter long line rescue, which returned to Gilgit-Baltistan at 5pm after two failed attempts to reach the mountain.
“The cloud was so thick we would not even see the mountain, let alone locate the climbers,” Gelje told Everest Chronicle over phone.
Gelje is a renowned climber and rescue guide from Nepal, who earned name for opening routes to the summit of K2 and Annapurna in difficult times. He is one of the members of winter K2 expedition in 2021, and has climbed eight 8,000ers twice.
Gelje had just arrived at Skardu after summiting Nanga Parbat the same night the duo were stranded in the mountain. “I arrived at Skardu around 11.30pm after a long drive. I went to bed only at 1am. I had to be ready for a rescue mission as soon as I had my breakfast. There was no time for meal all day long,” he said.
Descending below Camp III is the most difficult part in Nanga Parbat, according to Gelje. “It requires abseiling to descend below Camp III. We don’t know the physical condition of the climbers. But we could not reach them today,” he said.
Shehroze and Fazal summited Nanga Parbat at 8:45 am on Monday. They lost contact with Base Camp from around 7,350m as the weather turned bad. Pakistani mountains are notorious for sudden weather turns.
Tuesday morning, Shehroze’s father Kashif Salman made a video appeal for rescue of the climbers. Pakistani Army helicopter started the search early in the morning, but weather changed immediately.
Gelje is guiding Adriana Brownlee to all five mountains in Pakistan on her 14×8,000m quest. His K2 plan could be delayed if the climbers could not be rescued by tomorrow. “I know I have not had a proper rest, but I won’t be able to sleep ignoring a call for rescue. This is a matter of humanity,” he said.
Nanga Parbat’s section from Camp III to base camp is the most challenging of all 14 peaks. “Good thing is we can see climbers along the route from the base camp. The duo were spotted by the base camp staff in the morning. This is the most difficult section, which is why rescue is necessary,” he said.
The rescue mission will resume tomorrow morning.
