American-British climber Chris Wright was injured in an accident on Yukshin Gardan Sar (7,530m) after an epic descent. He has been airlifted to a hospital in Skardu, where he is stable and recovering. His climbing partners, Michael Hutchins and Stefano Ragazzo, have called their expedition off.
According to Ragazzo, Wright had an accident at approximately 6,100m, though he has not confirmed the circumstances. Hutchins and Ragazoo were able to lower Wright to Camp 1, where he remained for 24 hours until a Pakistani Army helicopter evacuated him.
Attempt over
From Camp 1, Ragazzo and Hutchins continued down to Base Camp in very difficult conditions because of bad weather and snowfall. Once there, they called off their expedition.
“We’re fine, but it was really challenging,” Ragazzo said. “The conditions were no longer there to continue.”
Bad weather has hampered other aerial evacuations in Pakistan, including the retrieval of Waldemar Kowalewski, injured on Broad Peak last Friday. Conditions in the Shimshal valley, where Yukshin Gardan Sar is located, were perhaps better than at Broad Peak’s Base Camp at the head of the Baltoro valley.
We await further updates about the accident and Wright’s state.
High difficulty
Awarded a Cutting-Edge Grant by the American Alpine Club, and supported by the Italian Alpine Club and UK Mount Everest Foundation, this was one of the most interesting expeditions this year.
The team had originally planned to climb Rimo III on the Indian side of the Karakoram, but did not receive a climbing permit. They changed goals at the last minute and instead went for an even harder goal: a new route on the previously unclimbed north face of Yukshin Gardan Sar, a monster 3,000m wall.
The north face of Yukshin Gardan Sar (7,530m). Photo: Sergiu Jiduc
