Very few Mountain Expeditions Visited Pakistan in 2009

Year 2009 has been a very bleak year for Mountaineering in Pakistan. The security state of the country has adversely affected the inflow of Tourists in Pakistan. In The year 2009 a total No of 63 teams originally applied for attempting various peaks but 18 withdrew their applications leaving 45 teams which were granted permit to climb various peaks of their choice, among these 02 more teams did not show up, thus leaving only 43 teams in the field. Out of these four teams were granted permission to climb 02 peaks each and one team to climb 03 peaks, as such overall 49 attempts were made to climb various peaks by 343 climbers including 54 climbers attempting 2 peaks each thus totaling the numbers of attempting climbers to 397.

Out of these 15 expeditions have returned successful by putting 63 climbers on the summits of various peaks including o3 climbers summiting 02 peaks each whereas 34 teams could not succed in climbing their desired peaks. Unluckily 02 climbers also lost their lives while descending from the summit of Nanga Parbat while another 04 climbers lost their lives while attempting K-2, Broad Peak , G-II & Latok-I.

Teams who attempted to climb K-2 (8611-M) in 2009
Year 2009 was also not a lucky year for cliembers who managed to come to K-2 and BroadPeak climbers. As many as 55 climbers of 06 teams tried to climb the savage mountain K-2 but none could succeed. Whereas one Italian mountaineer Mr. Michael Fait lost his life in an attempt to climb K2 peak on 29 Jun 2009.

BroadPeak (8047-M)
78 climbers of 08 different teams tried their luck to surmount the BroadPeak but only one mountaineer Mr. Joseph Permane Sabate of Spain managed to reach the summit on 27 July 2009 but not before it had taken the life of an Italian female mountaineer Ms. Cristina Castagna on 23 July 2009.

Nanga Parbat (8125-M)
On the other hand year 2009 proved to be a lucky year for climbing on Nanga Parbat and G-I. Although just 03 expeditions were launched on Nanga Parbat luckily all of these returned successful by putting 22 out of 41 climbers on top of Nanga Parbat including 04 Pakistani climbers. But once again it lived upto its nick name ?The Killer Mountain? by claiming the lives of 02 climbers. One of them being Mr. Wolfgang Koelblinger from Austria and the other Ms Go Mi Sun from South Korea, incidentally both of them died while descending from the summit after successfully summitting the Peak on 10 July 2009.

It will be of great interest for the mountain lovers to Know that Nanga Parbat was the 11th peak out of 14 peaks above 8,000 Meters in the world so far climbed by Ms. Go Mi Sun the strong lady form Korea. In a bid to complete her tally of 14 peaks, she climbed 04 Peaks above 8,000 Meters this year, 03 in Nepal and 01 in Pakistan. As such now only 03 peaks i.e. G-I, G-II and Annapurana were left to be summitted by her to make her dream come true, but unluckily destiny did not spare her to do so.

Gasherbrum-I (8068-M)
All five expeditions launched on G-I were successful in putting their 18 members out of 51 on top of the invincible G-I without any incidence, including 02 Pakistani climbers.

Gasherbrum-II (8035-M)
Two out of Nine expeditions launched on G-II returned successful by putting 02 climbers out of 98 on top of G-II. Unluckily Mr. Luis Maria Barbero leader of Spanish expedition lost his life while attempting the summit, on 20 Jul 2009.

Spantik (7027-M)
Four out of Six expeditions launched on Spantik returned successful by putting 20 climbers on top of this peak including one Pakistani. Two teams have returned unsuccessful.

Latok-I (7215-M)
Two teams tried their luck on this rock and ice pyramid but unluckily none could succeed and the Spanish Expedition lost the life of Mr. Oscar Perez during an unsuccessful attempt on 12 August 2009.

Other Expeditions
All other 9 expeditions launched on K-6, K-7, G-III, G-IV, G-VI, Kunyang Chish, Pumari Chish, Raka Poshi and Tahu Rutum have returned unsuccessful.

Fatalities of climbers in 2009
Following 06 climbers lost their lives on various mountains: – (May souls of these towering brave individuals rest in peace)

1. Michael Fait of Italy died on k-2 on 29 Jun 2009
2. Luis Maria Barbero of Spain died on G-II on 20 Jul 2009 (summit)
3. Ms. Cristina Castagna of Italy died on BroadPeak on 23 Jul 2009
4. Wolfgang Koelblinger of Austria died on Nanga Parbat on 10 Jul 2009 (summit)
5. Ms. Go Mi Sun of South Korea died on Nanga Parbat on 10 Jul 2009 (summit)
6. Mr. Oscar Perez of Spain died on Latok-I on 12 Aug 2009

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Jamal Panhwar

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