R.I.P.

The two climbers Alberto Zerain and Mariano Galvan were most likely killed in an avalanche accident on Nanga Parbat. A rescue helicopter from the Pakistani army has now discovered an avalanche cone at the place from where the last signal from the GPS tracker was sent last Saturday. During two flights today the helicopter crew found no trace of the  55-year-old Spaniard Zerain and the 37-year-old Argentinian Galvan. “This situation unfortunately excludes the possibility of finding survivors,” said Alberto Zerain’s team.

Experienced eight-thousander climbers

Alberto Zerain (r.) and Mariano Galvan (l.)

Zerain and Galvan had wanted to reach the 8125-meter-high summit of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge, which is about ten kilometers long and the longest ridge on the 14 eight-thousanders. On Friday last week, the Spaniard had last telephoned with his team. A day later, the GPS showed over six hours that Zerain and Galvan were moving across the ridge. After this, the locate point remained on the same spot. At some point, the signal from the GPS device died. Later, the GPS signal ran out.

In May, Alberto had scaled Annapurna in Nepal, his tenth eight-thousander. Mariano Galvan had reached the summits of seven eight-thousanders. Last spring, he had guided the Australian Allie Pepper on Lhotse. Pepper had not reached the summit because of health problems.