Sadly, the third death of the Karakoram season struck on July 11, when Italian alpinist Maurizio Giordano lost his life on Gasherbrum IV.
Giordano had been part of an Italian military team attempting the Bonatti-Mauri route to the summit of the 7,925m mountain. The team wanted to mark the 60th anniversary of the original 1958 Italian expedition led by Ricardo Cassin, which featured a difficult technical climb via the northeast ridge. Only two members of the 1958 expedition made it to the summit, Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauri; their route has yet to be successfully repeated.
The 32-year-old had spent the previous night acclimatizing at 7,050m in Camp 3, with fellow climbers Marco Majori, Marco Farina and Daniele Bernasconi, before they started their descent back towards Base Camp. Giordano was killed by falling ice while rappelling just below the “Italian seracs” at approximately 6,300m.
