Swedish climber dies in Himalaya expedition
A Swedish climber died in an accident on the mountain K2 in the Karakoram Himalayas early on Friday morning while taking part in an Austrian-led expedition.
Fredrik Ericsson fell 1,000 metres to his death as bad weather closed in on the mountain, according to the Austrian news agency APA. The Swedish foreign ministry has not been able to confirm the death.
Ericsson is a well known Swedish adventurer and was climbing K2, on the Pakistan-China border and at 8,611 metres the second highest mountain on Earth, in a bid to become the first person to ski from the summit down to base camp.
The expedition was led by the Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who elected to halt an attempt on the peak on Friday after a fall, with a further two or three climbers returning to camp.
Kaltenbrunner's husband Ralf Dujomovits gave up on the climb already on Thursday after a landslide.
One of the climbers, Christian Stangle, told the news agency that recent days have been characterised by snowfalls, avalanches and rockfalls.
"It's snowing, the avalanches go off - and the relatively high temperatures loosen the stones from the slopes...I feel my health is more important than the summit," he said on his homepage according to APA.
Stangle said that avalanches occurred both to the right and left of Ericsson as he fell almost all the way back to base camp III.
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Fredrik Ericsson fell 1,000 metres to his death as bad weather closed in on the mountain, according to the Austrian news agency APA. The Swedish foreign ministry has not been able to confirm the death.
Ericsson is a well known Swedish adventurer and was climbing K2, on the Pakistan-China border and at 8,611 metres the second highest mountain on Earth, in a bid to become the first person to ski from the summit down to base camp.
The expedition was led by the Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, who elected to halt an attempt on the peak on Friday after a fall, with a further two or three climbers returning to camp.
Kaltenbrunner's husband Ralf Dujomovits gave up on the climb already on Thursday after a landslide.
One of the climbers, Christian Stangle, told the news agency that recent days have been characterised by snowfalls, avalanches and rockfalls.
"It's snowing, the avalanches go off - and the relatively high temperatures loosen the stones from the slopes...I feel my health is more important than the summit," he said on his homepage according to APA.
Stangle said that avalanches occurred both to the right and left of Ericsson as he fell almost all the way back to base camp III.
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