Fears are growing for three mountaineers last seen relatively close to the summit of Gasherbrum I (8,068m) at around 2:00pm Friday the 9th March.

At 10:30am that day Austrian Gerfreid Goschl, using a Thuraya satellite phone, contacted someone in Austria to say he, Cedric Hahlen (Switzerland) and the accomplished Pakistani mountaineer Nisar Hussain Sadpara were only 450m from the summit.

Three and a half hours later another expedition member Alex Txikon (Spain), who was at Camp 2 (thought to be around 6,800m), spotted them high on the peak, maybe as little as 250m below the top, and close to completing a partial new route.

Poles Adam Bielecki and Janusz Golab, who made the first winter ascent via the Normal Route on Friday, were able to spot a tent from the summit area.

As they descended, the weather deteriorated markedly on the mountain, with increasing winds and poor visibility.

All members of the Polish expedition were back in base camp by 4:00pm on the 10th March. Both summiteers are frostbitten, though it is unclear at present whether injuries are serious or not.

With Txikon and Canadian Louis Rousseau, Goschl attempted a winter ascent of Gasherbrum I in February-March 2011.

Their planned route was partially new, following the couloir and ridge close to the right edge of the triangular rock face that forms the left side of the west-southwest face of Hidden Sud (aka Gasherbrum South, 7,069m).

The left bounding (west) ridge of the triangle was climbed in 1983 by Spanish, while further to the right a prominent spur on the south-southwest face, leading directly to the top of Hidden Sud, was climbed by French in 1980.

At the top of the triangle (c6,800m) they would continue to the upper section of the southeast ridge, joining the original 1958 American Route at 7,500m.

Unfortunately, they were stopped by bullet hard ice at 6,650m, having climbed 1,500m of new ground.

Goschl returned in the summer and climbed the mountain by the Normal Route.

This winter the climbers managed to complete the new ground and appear to have been on the upper reaches of the '58 American Route when last seen.

According to Karrer Haidri, Media Coordinator for the Alpine Club of Pakistan, on Saturday ACP president Lt Col Manzoor Hussain, and the eminent mountaineer Col Sher Khan organized a rescue helicopter through Askari Aviation.

Due to bad weather the flight was cancelled.

The following day, as the weather cleared early morning, a three-man rescue team comprising accomplished high altitude mountaineers Ali Raza, Hassan Sadpara and Nazir Sadpara, prepared to fly to base camp.

However, delayed arrival of the helicopter, and a deterioration in the weather at midday, meant the flight could once again not take place.

Needless to say the Poles in base camp are either too exhausted or frostbitten to be able to go back up the mountain.

Another flight will be made today, subject to a suitable weather window.



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