Skardu — The body of American mountaineer Sarah Mallory Geis, who went missing after a massive avalanche struck an international climbing expedition on Broad Peak, has been recovered, the Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed.
Geis’s remains were found in the avalanche debris by local volunteer searchers and transported first to base camp and then on to Skardu, officials said.
The 39-year-old was one of ten climbers caught in the avalanche on July 30. Her body is the ninth to be recovered; the body of Nepali climber Nawang has yet to be found.
A Volunteer-Led Recovery
The initial search-and-rescue operation, which recovered seven of the climbers’ bodies, was suspended over fears of further avalanches. During that phase, Alpine Club Secretary General Ayaz Shigri said a human leg had been located that was believed to possibly belong to Geis.
The effort was revived by local volunteers rather than official rescue teams. On August 12, a mountaineering team from Shigar — Abuzar Ali, Muhammad Nadeem and Muhammad Bashir — recovered the body of climber Sohail Sakhi near Camp One on their own initiative, after a three-hour trek from base camp.
That success spurred the volunteers to keep searching for the two remaining climbers, and they succeeded in recovering Geis’s body. Officials now hope Nawang’s body can also be found.
From Pilates Studio to the Karakoram
Geis, of San Antonio, Texas, closed her Pilates studio earlier this year to pursue mountaineering, framing the decision on social media as “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes,” and joking about the gear she’d need.
Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, was her first attempt at an 8,000-meter peak. Before turning to climbing, she had worked in real estate alongside her father and served on the board of San Antonio Sports, where colleagues described her as bold and generous.
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