An elite group of climbers saved a French mountaineer in a daring night-time rescue on a Pakistan peak nicknamed "killer mountain", but officials Sunday called off the search for a second missing climber. The team of Polish climbers with support from the Pakistani military launched the attempt Saturday afternoon to rescue stranded French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol, but were unable to reach Polish national Tomek (Tomasz) Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat.
"The rescue for Tomasz is unfortunately not possible - because of the weather and altitude it would put the life of rescuers in extreme danger," wrote Ludovic Giambiasi, a friend of Revol, in a series of updates on Facebook.
"It's a terrible and painful decision." The four rescuers were flown by the Pakistani military from the base camp of K2 - the world's second-highest peak - to reach the stranded climbers. They were part of a Polish expedition seeking to become the first mountaineers to summit K2's peak during the winter, when good climbing days are rare.
"The K2 climbers who stopped their historic effort for a winter K2 summit will descend with Elisabeth Revol - one life saved," said Karar Haideri, spokesman for the Alpine Club of Pakistan, in a statement on Sunday.
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