The second fatality of the summer climbing season has occurred on the eight-thousander Broad Peak in the Karakoram. Pakistani climber Sharif Sadpara fell from the summit ridge and has been missing since. The hope of recovering him alive is close to zero.
Describing how the accident happened on Tuesday, Austrian expedition operator Furtenbach Adventures wrote on Instagram: “There is still difficult and limited communication (with Broad Peak base camp) but what we know so far is that our team started from Camp 3 in the night, also fixing the rope to the summit ridge. They were followed by climbers from other teams. Shortly before the summit a following Pakistani climber from a different team fell through a snow cornice on the summit ridge down to the Chinese side. That event halted the summit push for everyone for obvious reasons.”
2021 on the summit of K2
The 34-year-old Sharif Sadpara had summit K2, the second highest mountain on earth, in the summer of 2021. According to information from social networks, Sharif leaves behind five children.
The accident is reminiscent of the fall of South Korean Kim Hong-bin from Broad Peak last summer. Initially, the headline had gone around the world that the 56-year-old had reached the summit at 8,051 meters, becoming the first disabled climber in the world to stand on all 14 eight-thousanders – with bottled oxygen. A few hours later came the news that the 56-year-old, who 20 years earlier had lost all ten fingers through amputation due to frostbite, was missing. Hong-bin had also fallen to the Chinese side of Broad Peak. A few days later, the search had been called off.
Yesterday, the first fatality of the season was announced. The experienced Pakistani mountain guide Iman Karim Shimshali, who was working for an expedition on Gasherbrum II, had fallen into a crevasse.
Update 8 July: According to British expedition operator Impact Ascents, five members of the team reached the summit of Broad Peak on 5 July – with bottled oxygen. The team spoke of a “bitter sweet summit success”: “Sadly, in atrocious weather conditions and at a height of 8020m a freak accident occurred and Sharif Sadpara lost his life. Sharif was an integral part of the team, being as important as the next member and bringing his professionalism and experience in all that he did. We are proud to have worked, trained and climbed with Sharif and our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children.” –According to their own information, the Italian Giuseppe Vidoni and the Frenchman Nicolas Jean stood on the summit already on 4 July – without bottled oxygen.
