Gurja Himal

Sad news from the 7193-meter-high Gurja Himal in western Nepal: Nine members of a Korean expedition died there according to the Nepalese operator “Trekking Camp Nepal”. A violent snow storm followed by a landslide completely devastated the base camp of the expedition at 3,500 meters. A helicopter crew saw seven bodies, two more climbers were missing. According to the operator, five Koreans and four Nepalese died.

Korean top climber among the dead

R.I.P.

Among the victims was Kim Chang-ho, it said. The 49-year-old climber had been the first South Korean to scale all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen in 2013, in the record time of seven years, ten months and six days.

The Koreans had planned to climb a new route on the seven-thousander. Gurja Himal, located about 20 kilometers west of the eight-thousander Dhaulagiri I, was scaled for the first time in 1969 by a Japanese expedition via the Northwest Face and the West Ridge: On 1 November, Tomokuni Saeki and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa had reached the highest point. The chronicle “Himalayan Database” recorded a total of only 30 ascents of the mountain.