STA, 16 July 2019 - Slovenian mountaineer Janez Svoljšak, a member of the Kranj Alpine Association, has died during an expedition in Pakistan, the Slovenian Alpine Association (PZS) said on Monday.
The 25-year-old from Škofja Loka (NW) died in a base camp under the 6,650 m Tahu Rutum mountain in the Karakoram mountain range in the wee hours of Monday.
Svoljšak reportedly uttered a wheezing sound during sleep, passed out and stopped breathing. His team started resuscitating him immediately but gave up after three hours of futile efforts. Arrangements are now being made to bring his body back to Slovenia.
Svoljšak was an established mountaineer, having conquered peaks in Pakistan, Patagonia, the Canadian Rockies as well as Montana and Colorado in the US.
His career highlights include climbing the Schmidt route up the North Face of the Matterhorn alone as well as a sole single-day ascent to the summit of Mont Blanc via the Innominata ridge - both achievements are considered a tour-de-force of mountaineering.
In May, he and a fellow mountaineer completed a series of climbs in remote mountains of Alaska on routes that no human ever set foot on before, conquering three virgin peaks in the process.
The deceased mountaineer was the European Champion in ice climbing in 2016 as well as the winner of one of the World Cup games.
