Islamabad: A renowned Scottish climber died in an avalanche while attempting to scale K2 in northern Pakistan, the world’s second-highest mountain peak, a Pakistani mountaineering official and a British charity said.
Rescuers meanwhile located the bodies of three climbers who died on the same mountain earlier this year, officials said.
Rick Allen, 68, died in an avalanche three days ago while trying to reach the summit along a route that had not been attempted previously on the mountain’s south-east face, said Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Allen’s two climbing partners survived the avalanche and were subsequently rescued, Haidri said.
Their expedition was aimed at raising funds for the UK-based charity Partners Relief & Development, where Allen was a board member. The charity, which works for the welfare of children, confirmed Allen’s death on its Facebook page.
An experienced climber, Allen was involved in an avalanche and was rescued in 2018 when he was scaling Broad Peak, which like K2 lies in the Karakoram Range, along the Pakistan-China border.
“Rick died doing what he loved the most and lived his life with the courage of his convictions,” said the charity’s statement.
Stephan Keck, an Austrian who was one of Allen’s climbing partners, survived the avalanche. He told The Associated Press on Monday that he escaped death miraculously.
He said after the avalanche hit the climbers he opened his eyes and saw that Allen was dead. He said Allen’s body was lying near him because they were connected with a rope.
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