Yesterday, some climbers reached the summit of Nanga Parbat while Klara Kolouchova of the Czech Republic lost her life in a fall.
Today, one of the Nepalese outfitters on the mountain has reported on the summits and given an official version of Kolouchova’s accident.
Recent summiters included Nepalese Dawa Sherpa, Pasang Dukpa Sherpa, Lakpa Temba Sherpa, with Ali Hassan of Pakistan, who supported the climbers and fixed the ropes to the top as they went.
The international climbers were Dorota Rasinska-Samocko of Poland, Paula Strengell of Finland, Jorge Egocheaga of Spain and Rana Hassan of Pakistan. Unfortunately, Seven Summit Treks has not said whether the climbers used supplementary oxygen. Egocheaga has never used it, and Rana Hassan also wanted to climb without it.
Rana Hassan, a plastic surgeon in the Pakistan Army, summited Nanga Parbat today. Photo: Samson Simon Sharaf
July 4 summits
Horia Colibasanu summited Nanga Parbat at 7 am after a “long, hard night” from Camp 4. Colibasanu climbed on his own, with no oxygen or support beyond Base Camp. This is his 11th 8,000m peak, all in the same style.
It took Colibasanu nine hours to reach the top without oxygen from his Camp 4 at 7,100m.
Seven Summit Treks confirmed that Allie Pepper of Australia, with Mikel (Mingtemba) Sherpa and Dawa Sherpa have also reached the top.
Colibasanu’s Camp 4. Photo: Horia Colibasanu
Locals on top
In addition to staff working on the mountain, several Pakistani climbers have succeeded on Nanga Parbat.
Sohail Sakhi from Aliabad, Hunza, summited today with Shezad Karim, without oxygen or Sherpa support. Sakhi previously summited K2 and both Gasherbrums.
Ashraf Sadpara also summited and has now climbed all of Pakistan’s 8,000’ers. He has also climbed K2 three times. Sadpara is the son of Ali Raza, a well-loved figure in Pakistani mountaineering, who dedicated years to mentoring young local climbers.
Saad Mohammed was supposed to be in the summit group this week, but things have not gone well for him. As he wrote on X, he needed two bivouacs to reach Camp 2 on Wednesday. He has remained there until today, suffering from fatigue and dehydration. Today, he is on the move to Camp 3.
Kolouchova’s accident details
Seven Summit Treks has also provided some details on the fall that took the life of Klara Koluchova. They explained that the Czech climber fell above Camp 2 while she was descending. At the time, her supporting Sherpa, Taraman Tamang, was with her.
“She slipped on a rocky section of the mountain,” 7ST wrote.
The agency also denies preliminary reports of an oxygen bottle explosion being involved in the accident. They offered a somewhat strange explanation: “The loud sound heard was caused by an oxygen bottle striking a rock during the fall, which created a noise resembling an explosion.”
They added: “We kindly ask everyone to help disseminate accurate information and to respect the sensitivity of this tragic situation.” Yet they avoid speaking of Kolouchova as deceased, merely identifying her as “missing,” which also creates confusion.
Media around the world have reported on her death, which the Pakistani authorities have confirmed. The Czech media also revealed that Kolouchova’s husband was a member of the expedition but didn’t intend to climb beyond Base Camp.
The Pakistan army has deployed a helicopter to search for and retrieve Kolouchova’s body from the mountain.
