BURSTThree separate mountaineering tragedies have struck the climbing community within days of each other, claiming lives on peaks in France and Pakistan while leaving three Peruvian climbers missing on Peru’s highest mountain. The incidents have unfolded against a backdrop of increasingly hazardous mountain conditions, with extreme weather and unstable terrain complicating climbs and rescue efforts.
On Mont Blanc, two Czech climbers were killed after being struck by falling rocks while crossing the Grand Couloir du Goûter on the mountain’s normal route. The victims were 57-year-old UIAGM mountain guide Pavel Zofka and his 49-year-old client. A third member of their team survived with injuries and was evacuated by helicopter. The group had attempted the crossing before dawn, the time generally considered safest, but the accident underscored the persistent dangers of the Death Couloir, where warming temps are increasing the frequency of rockfall. Between 1990 and 2017, the couloir was the scene of 347 rescues, including 102 fatalities and 230 injuries.
In Pakistan’s Karakoram, veteran Czech alpinist Jaroslav Bansky, 46, died in a fall while climbing Biarchedi II (6,759 m), near Masherbrum. He was on an expedition with Zdenek Hak and Radoslav Groh, both of whom were uninjured. The accident came only days after the team completed the first recorded ascent of neighbouring Biarchedi I (6,810 m), climbing technical mixed terrain before skiing part of the descent. The ascent formed part of their acclimatization for a planned new route on Masherbrum. The trio made the first ascent of Muchu Chhish in 2024, then regarded as the world’s highest previously unclimbed mountain.
Meanwhile, in Peru, three climbers remain missing on Nevado Huascarán after becoming separated from the rest of their team during a storm on July 13. Alejandro Ugarte Jordan, Freddy Saul Mendoza Lizana and mountain guide Artidoro Salas Gaitan were descending when contact was lost. Drone searches later located footprints matching the team’s last known GPS position at about 6,300 to 6,400 metres, but the tracks reportedly ended near two deep crevasses. Ugarte’s final satellite message to his girlfriend simply read “lost” before all communication ceased.
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