Missing Scottish Climber Located By Drone On Broad Peak In Himalaya (UPDATED)

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Mountain Journey
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Broad Peak, Himalaya – On July 9, 2018 while descending from a solo summit attempt of 8047-meter Broad Peak, the world’s 12th highest mountain, in the Himalaya, Scottish climber Rick Allen suffered a fall at about 7,600 meters and fell roughly 400 meters. His teammates assumed that Allen had not survived.

DJI Mavic Pro Drone | Screenshot From <a href="https://store.dji.com/product/mavic-pro">DJI.com</a>
DJI Mavic Pro Drone | Screenshot From DJI.com

Allen was missing for 36 hours before a cook with a Japanese team spotted a backpack on July 10, 2018. Then Polish drone operator, Bartek Bargiel, who was documenting his brother’s, Andrzej Bargiel’s, ski attempt on nearby K2 decided to take action. Bargiel flew his drone over to Broad Peak. He investigated the backpack and confirmed movement from Allen. Using satellites he was able to confirm the coordinates and elevation where Allen was located.

A rescue operation was initiated. Bargiel continued to use the drone to communicate with Allen and guide rescuers who were en route (Wspinanie.pl). Allen was soon rescued thanks to Bargiel and his DJI Mavic Pro drone. Allen returned to base camp on July 12.

Yesterday just as @fredrikstrang and I were about to leave after a night at camp 3 (7,000 m), we heard a radio call that a missing climber needed rescue high on the mountain. He had fallen off an ice cliff, and been solo on the mountain for 36 hours without a stove to melt water. The climber had been presumed dead until a drone pilot from K2 basecamp spotted him still moving and off route. We headed first down then up the mountain with rope, water, and medicine looking for him and were later joined by Tenji Sherpa from Summit Climb. With the help of the drone pilot we were able to eventually locate him in very dangerous terrain — a fall would’ve taken him either down a crevasse or all the way to the base of the mountain — and the three of us got him down and into a tent at camp 3 just as it was getting dark. Then the Summit Climb team took over taking care of him. This view descending into camp 3 was a lot better knowing he was alive and found! …. If I see [this very experienced mountaineer] again I’m going to talk to him about not having a partner and a radio 😳 #K2 #broadpeak

A post shared by David Roeske (@roeske) on

Bargiel used a DJI Mavic Pro drone that he reprogrammed to fly at high altitudes. The drone flew up to 8,400m while documenting on K2. See a few photos on Bargiel’s Instagram here:

Is it time to buy a drone? The DJI Mavic Pro is pretty sweet!

UPDATE:

Here is the footage from the drone:

Read more about the drone rescue on Broad Peak from the following sources:

Information in this post was found using Google Translate. There may be errors in this information. Please use the sources listed above to verify all facts.