Russian-American mountaineer found dead near Pakistan’s K2 peak
The body of American-Russian climber, Alex Goldfarb, has been found in the Gilgit-Baltistan region after a day’s search as rescue attempts were hampered by poor weather.
Goldfarb was attempting to climb Broad Peak, located around 8km away from K2. Authorities have also confirmed that the body of the climber has been recovered.
According to a local tourist company, Goldfarb had reached the summit of Pastore peak, at an altitude of more than 6,000 metres with his fellow climber Zoltan Slanko.
Official news update 18. 01. 2021 from the METE #BroadPeak #winter #expedition:
Sadly it is now confirmed that we lost Alex:https://t.co/ZMwHia646Y
(Feel free to share, with a link to this post as official source) pic.twitter.com/HfA2CiTB5E— Laszlo Pinter (@PraeriePanther) January 18, 2021
A medical doctor and a lecturer at Harvard University in the US, Goldfarb had volunteered to treat COVID-19 patients since the outset of the pandemic, his son Levi Goldfarb told Reuters news agency.
“He thought [mountain climbing] was beautiful,” Levi said. “He thought it was liberating, because up in the mountains it didn’t really matter who you were at sea level – a doctor, a lawyer, or even a thief, all of those labels were stripped away and you were playing by a different set of rules. He made great friends in the mountains, he saved lives and saved himself, and he travelled the world doing it.”
On Saturday, a team of Nepalese climbers made history by scaling K2 in the winter season. Haidri said this has never been done in winter. Winter winds on K2 can blow at more than 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).
Hundreds of local and foreign climbers scale mountains and peaks in northern Pakistan every year and accidents are common because of avalanches and sudden changes in weather.
