The summer climbing season in the Karakoram has only just begun, and already there has been the first fatality. According to Pakistani media reports, French ski mountaineer Guillaume Pierrel died in an avalanche on the 7,282-meter-high K6. Pierrel’s team was struck by the avalanche at an altitude of about 5,000 meters, Ishaq Ali, head of the Pakistani expedition operator North Pakistan Adventure, told the newspaper “Dawn.” Pierrel’s companions, ski mountaineers Christina Lustenberger from Canada and Boris Langenstein from France, survived the accident unharmed, Ali said.
K6 was first climbed in 1970 by an Austrian expedition led by Eduard Koblmüller. In 2020, Priti and Jeff Wright from the U.S. successfully completed an alpine-style traverse from the West Summit (7,040 meters) to the previously unclimbed Central Summit (7,100 meters).
Numerous extreme ski descents
Guillaume, known as “Gee” Pierrel, was one of the world’s best ski mountaineers. Born in the Vosges in 1983, the Frenchman made headlines with numerous extreme ski descents. Pierrel also owned a film production company and documented his adventures himself.
In 2021, for example, Gee skied down from the summit of Gasherbrum II after scaling the eight-thousander with three compatriots in alpine style via the rarely climbed route over the South Ridge and then the East Ridge.
Pierrel went on to achieve further milestones in ski mountaineering. In 2022, for example, he (along with Boris Langenstein) successfully skied down the “Le Linceul” couloir on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses (4,208 meters) in the French Alps.
In 2024, he (along with Christina Lustenberger) pioneered an extremely challenging ski descent on Aoraki (3,724 meters), also known as Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. In 2025, Pierrel (again with Lustenberger) completed the groundbreaking ski descent down the South Face of Mount Robson (3,954 meters) in Canada.
“Go your own way!”
One of his sponsors asked the top French ski mountaineer what message he would give to young people who wanted to follow in his footsteps. “Don’t just copy what’s already been done,” replied Gee Pierrel, “but go your own way and believe in yourselves!”
Update 26 June: A four-member Pakistani rescue team has recovered the body of Gee Pierrel, who died in an accident on K6.