A Scottish climber has died in an avalanche on K2 as he tried to take a brand new path to the summit.
Rick Allen was trying to climb the world’s second highest mountain to lift cash for the Companions Aid & Improvement charity.
The 68-year-old mountaineer from Aberdeen was caught in an avalanche on the mountain’s south-east face. His two climbing companions, Jordi Tosas of Spain and Stephan Keck of Austria, have been reportedly rescued with out severe accidents.
A press release on the charity’s Fb web page stated: “It’s with nice disappointment to announce that Rick Allen, a member of the board of Companions Aid & Improvement UK and likewise an ideal buddy, has died while trying a brand new route on K2, the world’s second highest mountain.
“Rick, a world-renowned veteran mountaineer, was caught in an avalanche on the south east face however happily his two climbing companions survived. Rick died doing what he beloved probably the most and lived his life with the braveness of his convictions.
“All members of the board ship our condolences to Rick’s household. A fuller assertion shall be issued as soon as we’ve extra information and when we’ve had time to think about how we are able to greatest give thanks for Rick’s contribution to our work and his legacy.”
On the fundraising web page shared by the worldwide assist charity, the outline learn: “Two of Britain’s most skilled mountaineers, Rick Allen and Jerry Gore, are trying the ascent of K2, the second highest peak on the planet and probably the most difficult.
“Every is utilizing the try to attract consideration to the wants of a charity with which they’re carefully related. Rick is a trustee of Companions UK, which is at present targeted on assembly the acute well being and academic wants of refugee kids displaced from their houses in Myanmar by current political upheavals.
“Jerry lives with Kind 1 diabetes and, by way of Action4Diabetes, facilitates the distribution of insulin to kids with diabetes throughout SE Asia. If the pair are profitable, Jerry would be the first British and the primary French mountaineer with kind 1 diabetes to achieve the summit of K2.”
The fundraising effort had obtained £170 of the £10,000 goal on the time the demise was reported. In a while Sunday night, the overall handed £1,000.
Allen had beforehand been presumed useless in 2018 after falling from an ice cliff throughout a solo climb to the summit of Pakistan’s Broad Peak that, at 8,047m, is the twelfth highest mountain on Earth. Nevertheless, his rucksack was noticed by a cook dinner on the mountain’s base camp earlier than a drone was used to find him and information rescuers to his location.