Search Ends for Climbers on Nanga Parbat

Rescue attempts to find missing climbers on the Mazeno Ridge of Nanga Parbat have been called off.

The 37-year-old Argentinian climber Mariano Galvan and 55-year-old Spainish climber Alberto Zerain disappeared on the 8,126-metre Pakistan mountain on June 24.

Helicopters searched the area until July 1 and located a large avalanche slide in the area where the team was last known to be.

The BMC stated: “On the 24th the tracker that Zerain was carrying showed the pair moving for around six hours to an altitude of 6,270 m. Yet about an hour later the tracker’s position was 180m distant from this point and almost the same number of metres lower, at 6,112 m.”

Galvan had climbed seven of the 8,000-metre summits sans supplemental O2 and Zerain had climbed 10. They had climbed a number of big mountains together.

The nine-kilometre Mazeno Ridge was attempted in 1992, 1993 and 1995 by Doug Scott. In 2012, Rick Allen and Sandy Allan made the first ascent in 18 days. It has not been repeated.

“Last position indicated by the Racetracker of Alberto Zerain, is where they found a plaque of snow detached that ended up forming a avalanche,” noted the team following Zerain’s ascent.

“Situation that, sadly, leads to rule out the possibility of survivors.”