A Polish climber has died in a fall on Gasherbrum I while attempting to descend in a storm. Artur Hazjer, 51, was part of a team attempting successive climbs of Gasherbrum I and II in the Karakoram range, on the Pakistani-Chinese border.
Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish mountaineer who made the first winter ascent of Everest in 1980, reported that bad weather on Sunday forced Hajzer and his climbing partner, Marcin Kaczkan, to turn back before reaching the summit. Marcin, who was initially cut off from the rest of his team due to a dead battery, reportedly saw him fall.
At 26,470 feet, Gasherbrum I is the eleventh-highest mountain in the world. Polish climbers were the first to complete a winter ascent of the mountain in March of 2012.