WARSAW, Poland -- A prominent Polish mountaineer says that a Polish climber has died in an accident while trying to scale one of the world's highest mountains, Gasherbrum I in the Himalayas.
Krzysztof Wielicki said Wednesday that Artur Hajzer's climbing partner Marcin Kaczkan told him by satphone that he saw Hajzer fall and that Hajzer was dead.
Bad weather on Sunday forced Hajzer and Kaczkan to turn back before reaching the peak of more than 8,000 metres. Hajzer fell during the descent, according to Wielicki.
Polish climbers have a long but tragic tradition of scaling the highest peaks of the Himalayas.
In March, two climbers died on descent from Broad Peak, also part of the Gasherbrum group. One of the bodies was recently located by a Polish search party.
