Sarah Mallory Geis, a mountaineer from San Antonio, , has been identified as one of four climbers killed after an avalanche struck an international expedition on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. Pakistani authorities confirmed the deaths on Friday as rescue teams continued searching for seven other missing mountaineers.
Officials in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region said the avalanche occurred on Thursday evening while the 10-member expedition was ascending Broad Peak at an altitude of about 6,660 meters.
Contact with the team had been lost earlier that day after a routine communication with the tour operator.
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Who was Sarah Mallory Geis?
, 39, was an experienced climber from San Antonio, Texas. She stated on social media that she was closing her Pilates business to devote herself to mountaineering before starting the Broad Peak adventure.
In an Instagram post shared in February, Geis wrote that she had decided to pursue a new path after feeling pushed toward “the scary thing of starting over.”
“Taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes,” she wrote. “I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”
A Pakistani adventure company, Moving Mountains, which organized the expedition, announced a month earlier that Geis would join its Broad Peak climbing team. The climb marked her first attempt on the world’s 12th-highest mountain, People Magazine reported.
Broad Peak, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, stands at 8,051 meters. It is regarded as one of the world’s most technically demanding 8,000-meter peaks. Since its first successful ascent in 1957, dozens of climbers have died attempting to reach its summit.
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Three more bodies discovered; rescue efforts on
According to the Gilgit-Baltistan authorities, rescue operations began Friday morning after reports of the avalanche reached authorities on Thursday night.
Rescue teams recovered three other bodies during an uphill search from base camp.
Authorities identified two victims as Pur Bahadur Gurung (Nepal) and Nadhira Alharthy (Oman). The identity of the fourth recovered climber has not yet been released.
Alharthy was widely recognized as the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest. She achieved the milestone in 2019, according to The New York Times.
Officials said seven climbers remain missing, including , the British-Nepalese mountaineer who gained international recognition through Netflix’s documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible and his record-breaking Himalayan ascents.
The rescue operation remains ongoing as authorities work to account for the remaining climbers.
