New Zealand climbers presumed dead

New Zealand climbers hoping to become the first team of a father and a son to scale the world’s second-highest peak K2 had been missing for the last four days and assumed dead on Tuesday.

Martin Schmidt, 53, and his 25-year-old son, Denali Schmidt, were attempting to scale 8,611 metre (28,251 feet) peak when an avalanche hit them on Friday night.

Abu Zafar, Secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), which coordinated the expedition, told the local media that there was a series of avalanches before they went missing which prompted most of the climbers to return to the base camp.

But, he said, the Schmidts attempted to take shelter at Camp 3, some 7,400 metres up the mountain. Everybody was trying to descend and call it a day because of the avalanches and they should have also descended to the base camp, he added. Abu Zafar said Nepalese Sherpas had reached Camp 3 and found equipment such as crampons and ice axes which were vital for the climbers to surviving on the mountains.

“That’s why it’s assessed that they’re gone,” he said, adding normally climbers could not move about without crampons and ice axes.

The ACP secretary said the club would announce them being dead within two or three days after completion of the documentation. “We are still waiting for a miracle to happen for the father and his son,” he said. However, at present they had been presumed dead as no news regarding their survival had been heard.

Martin Schmidt was a professional mountaineer who worked as a brand ambassador for New Zealand outdoor products company Macpac, which said it had received confirmation that the climber and his son were dead. The pair was reportedly dual New Zealand-US citizens.