“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,” the Alpine Club of Pakistan announced today via Instagram. “The body is being brought to base camp for onward despatch to her family.”
This means that the second-to-last of the ten avalanche victims from 30 June has now been recovered. Only the Nepalese climber Nawang Thindu Sherpa remains officially listed as missing. He is apparently still higher up on the mountain in a hard-to-reach area prone to avalanches.
Geis was -along with Wang Zhong from China and Nadhira Al Harthy from Oman, whose bodies had already been recovered – one of three clients among the ten climbers who lost their lives in the avalanche at the end of June. For Mallory, it was her first attempt at an eight-thousander. She had given up her Pilates studio last February to pursue this project.
“Taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved,” the 39-year-old wrote on Instagram at the time.
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa: “It would have taken us only five minutes by helicopter”
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, who led the initial rescue efforts on Broad Peak, called on the Pakistani government to establish a system for helicopter rescues above the base camps of the country’s eight-thousanders, similar to the one that has been in place in Nepal for many years.
“I cannot fully explain the difficulty and risk we endured on Broad Peak to retrieve the bodies of our beloved ones,” writes the head of the expedition operator Imagine Nepal on Instagram. “Had aerial rescue been available, it would have been the work of only a few minutes; instead, it took us six agonizing days because of its absence.”
Italian mountaineer and helicopter rescue pilot Simone Moro had already stated about half a year ago that two of his rescue helicopters were ready to be shipped to Pakistan – as soon as the necessary paperwork was in order. But that, apparently, is precisely where the problem lies.
The political situation is likely also hindering such initiatives. Due to the decades-long conflict with India over the mountainous region of Kashmir, the Pakistani military maintains a tight grip on the northern part of the country.