By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A 46-year-old Czech mountaineer died on Thursday during an expedition in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, the Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed, becoming the second climber to die this season in the mountains that draw hundreds of foreign expeditions each summer.
The climber was identified as Jaroslav Bánský. Local newspapers, citing sources at a base camp, reported that a Czech climber fell from a cliff near a first camp while attempting Masherbrum, a 7,821-meter peak also known as K1. Tufail Ahmed Mir, deputy inspector general of police for Baltistan, confirmed that a member of a foreign expedition team died in a fall while the group was attempting the climb.
Czech news outlets, however, reported that Bánský was attempting a different, nearby objective at the time of his death: a first ascent of Biarchedi II, a 6,800-meter peak the climber and two teammates were using to acclimatise before a planned attempt on Masherbrum. The exact circumstances of the accident had not been established as of Saturday. Some early accounts attributed the death to falling rock; others described a fall from a slope. Neither Pakistani authorities nor the Czech Foreign Ministry had reconciled the conflicting reports.
Czech Foreign Ministry spokesman Adam Čörgő said embassy staff in Islamabad were in contact with Pakistani police and with the tour operator that organised the trip. He did not disclose additional details. Libor Dušek, described by Czech media as a family friend and fellow climber, confirmed the death to the Czech News Agency, CTK.
Bánský was traveling with Zdeněk Hák and Radoslav Groh, both past recipients of the Piolet d’Or, an international mountaineering award. The three climbers made the first ascent of Muchu Chhish, a 7,453-meter peak in Pakistan’s Batura Muztagh range, in 2024. Earlier this month, on July 6, the same team completed the first ascent of a nearby peak, Biarchedi I.
Masherbrum ranks among the most technically demanding and least climbed mountains in the Karakoram. Jaroslav’s expedition was the first team to attempt the mountain’s slopes in close to five decades, underscoring both the ambition and the risk of the undertaking.
A base camp source told the local Dawn newspaper that members of Bánský’s family had travelled to Islamabad following his death, and that no decision had been made on whether his body would be brought down from the mountain to Skardu. It was not immediately clear whether that account referred to the same recovery effort described by Czech officials.
Bánský’s death is the second of the summer climbing season in the Karakoram. On June 22, French climber Guillaume Pierrel was killed by an avalanche while attempting K-6, a 7,282-meter peak in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Ghanche district. Czech media also reported that two other Czech climbers were killed by rockfall on Mont Blanc, in the French Alps, earlier in the week — making Bánský the third Czech mountaineer to die abroad within several days.
The deaths have not slowed the pace of the season. Pakistan is home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters — K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak — and hundreds of foreign climbers are currently attempting to summit them. The Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department has issued 31 mountaineering permits and 39 trekking permits to foreign visitors so far this season, according to Sajid Hussain, an assistant director at the department. Permits will continue to be issued through Aug. 1.
Expedition teams across the region have spent recent weeks on acclimatisation rotations and fixing ropes on the upper mountains while waiting for favorable weather. Climbers are currently working within a stable weather window expected to hold until July 21. Seven Summit Treks, a major expedition operator, said in a statement that conditions have improved across the Gasherbrum massif following several days of poor weather. The operator said route-fixing teams have established Camp III on Gasherbrum II and Camp II on Gasherbrum I, and that climbers are preparing to attempt Gasherbrum II’s summit first, followed by Gasherbrum I.
On K2, the world’s second-highest mountain at 8,611 meters, teams have established Camp II and are progressing toward Camp III. Activity on Broad Peak remains limited, and the climbing season on Nanga Parbat has officially closed following a series of successful summits.
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