Posted: Jul 20, 2009 02:35 am EDT
(K2Climb.net/Madrid) The summit push launched on Broad Peak last weekend has taken Cristina Castagna’s life – the Italian climber reportedly fell to her death on Saturday, while descending back to BC together with mate Giampaolo Casarotto. No summits have been yet confirmed, while some teams report they turned back due to bad conditions.

"We were descending from C4,” Casarotto told Il Giornale di Vicenza. “She was walking 10 meters ahead of me. Suddenly, she slipped down, hit some rocks and then fell in a crevasse. When I reached her, she was gone – there was nothing I could do but crying.”

It is unclear whether Castagna and Casarotto had summited or not before heading back on Saturday - the accident took place that day (July 18th) in the afternoon.

At just 31 years old Cristina Castagna, nicknamed “El Grio” (cricket), had previously summited Shisha’s central summit (2004), GII (2005), Dhaulagiri (2007) and Makalu (2008). This season, she and renato hoped to summit Broad Peak and then to give GI a shot.

No summits reported

Cristina and Giampaolo were sharing permit with Spanish Rosa Fernández and Uruguay’s Leonardo Perez. During the summit attempt, Rosa eventually turned back in bitter cold and bad conditions, her husband told local media. She also confirmed Cristina’s accident.

Leonardo also turned back due to some injuries (sustained during an previous acclimatization trip) not healing well. He reported on all climbers retreating – some of them apparently just 50 meters away from the summit. “Right now, there are only Spanish and Polish climbers still on the way up,” he noted on Saturday. “They’re virtually out of sight though, since the mountain is wrapped in a blizzard.”

FTA’s team leader Chris Szymiec reported on all team members back in C4 through a voice dispatch on Saturday. Chris didn’t mention anyone reaching Broad’s Main summit though.

Links to climbing teams on Broad Peak

Eelco Jansen
Field Touring Alpine
Iran Mountain Zone News
Leonardo Perez
Carles Figueras
Rosa Fernandez
Karrar Haidri's Saltoro Summits

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