It’s been a difficult day for Pakistani climbers in their home mountains. After the sad news of Iman Karim’s death near Gasherbrum II yesterday, there are now reports of a fatality on Broad Peak. Then at the end of the day, young Shehroze Kashif and his high-altitude porter Fazal Ali reportedly sent out an SOS that they are stuck on Nanga Parbat.
To make matters worse, little reliable information is currently available. Instead, rumors and contradictory or inaccurate statements are running wild on social media.
Sheroze Kashif, aka Broad Boy (after Broad Peak, which he climbed at only 17) summited Nanga Parbat earlier today, July 5, at 8:45 am. Fazal Ali Shimhsali supported him. It is unclear whether other climbers attempted the summit.
Later, social media reported that a Pakistani climber was stuck at around 7,200m and had sent out an SOS call. This is all we know for sure.
Shehroze Kashif and Fazal Ali. Photo: Shehroze Kashif
Nanga Parbat is Kashif’s eighth 8,000’er. He wants to become the youngest person to complete the 14×8000’ers. Lately, however, he has had some funding problems. Until now, he has climbed with large commercial teams, but on this occasion, he went only with Fazal Ali. He was also trying to get funds to climb the Gasherbrums right afterward.
Kashif’s website has not been updated since they reported summiting. Some people are providing coordinates of the climbers’ location. So far, no official call for rescue has gone out. News related to missing and injured climbers and rescues is a sensitive issue. Typically, more than one source is needed to state anything reliably, and the media must ensure that families are informed before reporting news.
Casualty on Broad Peak
Earlier today, reports of an accident on Broad Peak came directly from climbers in K2 Base Camp. Currently, all we can reliably say — confirmed by several sources — is that a Pakistani climber has fallen from Broad Peak’s summit ridge. The accident recalls Kim HongBin’s fatal accident last summer.
File image of Broad Peak’s summit ridge, 2021. Photo: Nils Jespers
Incomplete summit news
This morning, Furtenbach Adventures said that their team had summited. At least three other teams were also on full summit push, aiming to top out today or tomorrow. We know little about these teams. Later, the BC crew noted that all summits, including Furtenbach’s, remain unconfirmed.
It is unclear whether the accident may be related to the lack of news. Furtenbach stated that the fallen climber is not a member of its team but did not say which team he was with.
