Search teams announced on Friday that the body of Mallory Geis, an American climber, was discovered, marking the final missing member of a 10-person international mountaineering team that perished in an avalanche on Broad Peak several weeks ago. The recovery was made by a group of local volunteers, as confirmed by Irfan Arshad Khan, the president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. Geis, aged 39 and residing in San Antonio, Texas, was embarking on her first endeavor to scale an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan before the tragic incident.

Geis had shared on social media earlier this year her decision to close her Pilates studio and venture into the unknown with the anticipation of encountering challenges in the form of helmets, harnesses, and crampons. Her family paid tribute to her as a radiant presence cherished deeply by her loved ones and friends.

The search operation, initiated on July 31 following the fatal avalanche on Broad Peak that swept away the expedition led by acclaimed climber Nirmal Purja, has now concluded with Geis’s recovery. Known as Nims Dai, Purja, a Nepali climber and former British Army soldier, achieved the remarkable feat of conquering the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record-breaking 189 days in 2019, a journey documented in the Netflix film “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible,” although his record was later surpassed in 2023.

Climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan frequently face hazards such as avalanches, falling ice and rock, high altitudes, and volatile weather conditions, leading to numerous accidents in the region.