Posted: Aug 28, 2008 11:42 am EDT
(K2Climb.net) Dejan Miskovic was airlifted by helicopters today and is now safe in BC, reports Urban. Askari Aviation confirmed the news.

The two helicopters also made an aerial search for Pavle Kozjek but found no trace of the climber. Tomaz Humar is reportedly with the pilots and searches will resume tomorrow, weather allowing.

If confirmed, Pavle Kozjek's death would be another great loss to the climbing community this year; and also to ExplorersWeb. For his solo, express new route on Cho Oyu, Pavle was chosen as the best climber of 2006 by the crowds attending the Piolet d’Or awards.

But the climb was only one part of his popularity: that same year, Pavle's images of Tibetan refugees shot dead by border guards at Nangpa La stirred the world. China had denied the incident, so Pavle made international news and a nation of Tibetans expressed their gratitude.

ExplorersWeb selected Pavle's action, combined with his climb, as the Best of ExplorersWeb in 2006.

More on Pavle's climbs

In 2006 Slovenian Pavle Kozjek opened a new route on the southwest face of Cho Oyu, in a 14.5-hour single-push ascent from ABC to the top - the only climb outside the normal route that season according to Miss Hawley.

Pavle Kozjek is not an 8000+ meter peak regular - it's just that all his visits to the world’s giants have ended up successfully, and more.

In 1986 Pavle climbed Pakistan's Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II in a total of five days. In 1989 he opened (with Andrej Stremfelj) a new route on Shisha Pangma’s south face, in alpine style; in 1997 Pavle became the first Slovenian climber to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen; and in fall 2006- on his latest trip to the Himalayas - Pavle left the above mentioned brand new route on Cho Oyu.

Still, Pavle's favorite playground remains the Peruvian Andes, where he has applied his fast, lightweight style to open a number of hard new routes on Chacraraju, Huascaran, Siula Grande, Chopicalqui, etc.

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