General Mountaineering Thread

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Rockfall at Trango Tower peak base camp injures 3 foreign climbers​

Jamil Nagri
July 25, 2026



The file photo shows Trango Tower peak. — photo courtesy Alpinist website

GILGIT: Three foreign climbers were injured after a rockfall struck them at the base camp of Trango Tower peak, while a local tourist died after falling into Kachura Lake in Skardu while taking selfies.

The condition of one of the climbers is said to be critical as he suffered a head injury, while bad weather has hampered the helicopter rescue operation.

According to sources, Mr Markel De La Fuente, Mr Gorka Prieto and their colleague had reached the base camp of Trango Tower to attempt the climb.

The Trango Towers are a family of dramatic granite spires located north of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range of Gilgit Baltistan.

Sources said the climbers were waiting for a weather window to begin their summit attempt. On Wednesday, a rockfall hit their camp, resulting in head and shoulder injuries to the three climbers. The climbers’ camp was also destroyed in the incident.

Mr Gorka Prieto sustained a serious head injury, following which the tour operator requested a helicopter rescue operation for the injured climbers.

General Secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan Ayaz Shigri told Dawn that the helicopter rescue operation could not be started due to bad weather conditions.

He said helicopters could not fly over mountains during adverse weather.

“Unfortunately, weather conditions across the North are not clear for flying for at least the next two to three days,” he said. Sources said the injured climbers were being shifted to Shigar through a ground rescue operation.

It takes at least a week to trek from the base camp to the nearest town of Shigar or Skardu.

 

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KP mountaineers scale 6,050m Thalo Zom peak​

Our Correspondent
July 30, 2026



One of the mountaineers at the summit. — Dawn

CHITRAL: A nine-member mountaineering team from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has successfully summited the perilous 6,050-meter (19,850 feet) Thalo Zom peak in the Hindukush mountain range.

The expedition, sponsored by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture and Tourism Authority (KPCTA), conquered the treacherous peak on the eighth day of the mission, marking only the fifth successful ascent of the mountain in recorded history.

The specialised expedition was led by veteran climber Roohullah and comprised an experienced nine-member team consisting of Umer Khan, Intikhab Khan, Numan Sami, Izzatullah Shah, Saeed Akhtar, Naeem Khan, Fawad Khan and Raza Ali.

The assistant director of KPCTA, Saad bin Awais, told Dawn that the climbers hailed from various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He added that they launched their expedition from the scenic Kumrat Valley in Upper Dir district.

He said that upon reaching the base camp, the team spent a gruelling week acclimatising to the thin air and high-altitude conditions.

On the final push, the team battled extreme vertical terrain, taking exactly eight hours to navigate from the high camp to the summit and hoist the national flag, he added.

Thalo Zom sits isolated on the boundary between Chitral and Upper Dir districts. Despite its modest 6,000-meter stature compared to Pakistan’s 8,000-meter giants, its extreme topography has historically repelled the world’s finest climbers.

“The physical features of the mountain have always kept mountaineers away from it,” Mr Awais said. He added that the KP team had to successfully negotiate a highly perilous approach to the base camp, which was heavily defended by shifting glaciers and deep, hidden crevasses.

“Fortunately, perfectly clear weather throughout the expedition window mitigated some of the risks, making the final climb smoother than anticipated,” he said.

Sahib Irfan, a tour operator from Chitral, underscored the immense difficulty of the peak and said that after an Australian team recorded the historic first ascent of Thalo Zom in 1971, the mountain remained untouched for nearly five decades and it took 48 years for an Italian expedition to finally secure the second successful summit in 2019.

He said that in 2025, a group of local Chitrali climbers under the banner of Shabdaraz Alpine Group successfully scaled it, paving the way for KPCTA-sponsored team’s historic multi-district triumph this July.