Renowned mountaineer Rick Allen, thought to have fallen to his death on Broad Peak, has been found alive after being located by a drone sent from K2 Base Camp.
Allen went missing at 8000m while descending on 9 July from a solo attempt on Broad Peak, the world’s 13th highest mountain. Allen was part of a small private team that included Casper Tekieli, Sandy Allan, and Stanislav Vrba, who are attempting a new route on Broad Peak.
Allen’s team mates believed that he had perished and took his satellite phone before their own descent. He was missing for 36 hours until members of a Japanese team spotted a rucksack, off route, at 7500m.
Broad Peak. Photo: Summit Post
Drone operator Bartek Bargiel, there to record a documentary of his brother Andrzej’s attempt to ski down K2, used his drone to help locate the rucksack and confirmed movement.
He then directed a team already on the mountain to Allen, who was found to be reasonably well, with only superficial cuts, bruises and some frostnip.
Climber David Roeske wrote on Instagram, “Yesterday just as @fredrikstrang and I were about to leave after a night at Camp 3 (7,000 m), we heard a radio call that a missing climber needed rescue high on the mountain. He had fallen off an ice cliff, and been solo on the mountain for 36 hours without a stove to melt water… [We headed] up the mountain with rope, water, and medicine looking for him and were later joined by Tenji Sherpa from Summit Climb. With the help of the drone pilot we were able to eventually locate him in very dangerous terrain — a fall would’ve taken him either down a crevasse or all the way to the base of the mountain — and the three of us got him down and into a tent at Camp 3 just as it was getting dark.”
Allen was then taken to Base Camp, where he was assessed by a doctor before being evacuated to hospital to recover.
Sandy Allan explained via his blog that “he had decided to descend due to high winds. The rest of the team stayed at Camp 3 to consider their options for the summit. Rick made a summit attempt on 9th July after climbing all day and night.”
Regarded as two of the world’s most accomplished climbers, Allen and Allan were the first to traverse the Mazeno Ridge, the longest in the Himalayas, on Nanga Parbat (8,125m) in 2012.
