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Koreans Missing on Annapurna Presumed Dead

The search for three missing Korean climbers on Annapurna was suspended on Saturday, October 29 following ten days without a sign of the team. Park Young-Seok, Shin Dong-Min and Kang Ki-Seokwere were attempting a new route on the South Face of Annapurna when they radioed their decision to retreat to their base camp on October 18; they were not heard from again. Hundreds attended a memorial service on Thursday, November 4 at a university hospital in Seoul. The Korean Alpine Federation said it will resume the search next year.

The rescue team, which comprised five Koreans and fourteen Sherpas, identified a rope buried under several meters of snow. The team believed that the climbers may have been swept into a large crevasse at the foot of the South Face; they combed the area but found no trace of the climbers. The search was suspended over concern for the rescuers’ safety.

Park Young-Seok, 47, was a renowned Korean climber whose accomplishments included a new route on Everest’s southwest face and the so called “true Adventurer’s Grand Slam”. (He climbed the Seven Summits, all fourteen 8000m peaks and traveled to the poles.) He is widely quoted as saying, “Mountaineers should be on the mountains… I will continue expeditions until death comes.”

Sources: Outsideonline.com, Explorersweb.com, AFP