Bruce Normand, my friend and climbing partner, wrote a press release a few days ago regarding the tragic disappearance of Ben Cheek on the Shimshal Whitehorn in Northern Pakistan. Bruce summarizes the events of last few weeks after Ben went missing during his solo attempt on the unclimbed North Face of the mountain. Ben left the village of Shimshal on the 11th of July, alone. No trace of him has been found since.

I have included a few images taken from below the North Face of Shimshal Whitehorn, and of searchers combing the avalanche debris at the base of the face. It is presumed that Ben may have been caught in this avalanche.

Due to a severe chest infection and sudden illness I suffered in Europe, I was unable to return to Pakistan to assist in the search efforts. A lingering cough reminds me that, although I feel both saddened and somewhat guilty for not being able to return, the difficult choice to stay put was perhaps the best one; the mountains of Northern Pakistan are inhospitable for even the healthy, and my contributions in such a state would have perhaps been more of a liability than anything.

In recollection, I very much enjoyed the days spent with Ben during our expedition to Distaghil Sar. Ben possessed a lightheartedness and sense of humor that kept all of us laughing, and his energy and youthful spirit was always positive. Those days climbing alongside Ben will not be easily forgotten. My thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time. Below is the official Expedition Press Release written by Bruce Normand:

It is with great regret that I have to inform you of the disappearance and presumed death of our Distaghil Sar expedition colleague Ben Cheek. As you may know, Ben decided directly after the expedition, and against the advice of the other members, to remain in Shimshal to attempt the North Face of Shimshal Whitehorn (6400m) alone. He never returned from this mission.
Peter Thompson and I, who were still in Pakistan, mounted a full search and would-be rescue mission which lasted from 19th July until July 28th. Despite the unstinting help of the British Embassy, the BMC's insurance provider Fortis Insurance, agents Pearl Tours and ATP in Pakistan, many local Shimshal porters, friend and climber Lee Harrison (who flew out specially from the UK) and the Askari Aviation branch of the Pakistan Army, which flew two complete helicopter searches, we were unable to find any trace of Ben.

The most likely scenario is that he perished in an avalanche very early in his climb: there is a major avalanche cone at the base of the North Face, but a search of it did not find him near the surface. The helicopter search appears to rule out the possibility that he climbed out of the face and was descending a different side of the mountain. Ground searches seem to exclude the possibility that he chose not to climb the face at all, and went elsewhere. ;

 

Ben will be sadly missed. At this time all our thoughts are with the Cheek family. We thank you again for your support for Ben, and for the rest of the team, during what turned out to be his last expedition.

Phone Update - The search for Ben Cheek continues on Shimshal Whitehorn. The day prior to departure for Islamabad, Don became very ill with a high fever. Consequently, he did not make his flight and is still in Amsterdam. He remains in regular communication with the Cheek family.

A more thorough dispatch from Don will be posted in the coming days.

On July 9th the Distaghil Sar team descended from the Yazghil Sar Base Camp. While Bruce, Pete and Don traveled on to Karimabad, Ben Cheek remained in Shimshal to make a solo ascent of the North Face of Shimshal Whitehorn Peak (6500m) located above the town of Shimshal. Attempts to scale this peak have been few. As it stands, it has only been successfully summited twice. Ben and Bruce agreed to meet in Karimabad around July 19th. From there, they would continue on to the Chinese Tien Shan, joined by additional climbers from the UK, for their next expedition.

Upon Don's arrival in Islamabad on July 14th, he received information from a staff member who was with the Distaghil Sar expedition that a remaining porter load of gear from base camp together with Ben had arrived in Shimshal and were headed to Karimabad to meet up with Bruce and Pete. However that report turned out to be erroneous. Don then departed Islamabad and traveled through Kathmandu, Deli, and London eventually arriving in Amsterdam to meet a friend. Upon his arrival in Holland, Don received an email message from Bruce stating that as of July 21st, Ben had not returned to Karimabad.

Pete has since traveled to Shimshal to make a reconnaissance trip up to the North Face of the Shimshal Whitehorn Basin tracing the route where Ben had indicated he would climb. After returning from 3 days on Nanga Parbat assisting in a rescue there, Bruce began coordinating with the Pakistani Military a helicopter flight to the North Face of Shimshal Basin in order to locate Ben's whereabouts.

As of July 11th there hasn't been any sign of Ben Cheek since his departure from Shimshal town. After wrestling over visa issues with the Pakistani Embassy in Amsterdam (which resulted in delaying his departure), Don is flying back to Islamabad arriving on Friday July 25th. He will travel to Shimshal and join Bruce and Pete in their efforts to locate Ben Cheek.

Please keep the Cheek family, Bruce, Pete and Don and others in your prayers as they continue their search for Ben. For more info and updates, check k2climb.net and news.bbc.co.uk.

Regrettably, the 2008 UK/Canadian Distaghil Sar Expedition is over. All of the members are back in Shimshal. Everyone is in good health and spirits, which is more than can be said for our mountains. The reconnaissance which Don and I made from C2 during the enduring fine weather on 5th July confirmed all of the fears intimated in Don's last report: since I saw it in 1999 there has been appalling decay and destruction both on the North Face of Distaghil Sar (E and W peaks) and on the neighbouring snow peak of Yazghil Dome.



In the upper basin we entered, crevasse zones had spread high up the Malangutti and all around the base of the route. Previously uniform snow slopes, particularly one we had to traverse and one which formed the lower half of our back-up plan (Distaghil Sar E, NE Ridge), had turned into active serac bands with piles of rubble at their bases. Concerning the routes themselves, our planned line on the N Ridge of Distaghil Sar W was missing its proposed C5 - the serac above which we planned to camp had fallen off, leaving 100m of new rock exposed directly to icefall from the new serac edge; the back-up ridge had changed from a snow line to a discontinuous, crevasse-cut face. As we watched snow and ice avalanches descend, it was clear that not only would there be no route, but nor would there be a consolation prize. (Except our first ascent of peak 5512m and the second ascent of peak 6150m (6247m), respectively) 2008 has been a very low-snow year in large parts of the Karakoram, and this no doubt contributed to our problems, but it seems unlikely that it could be a full explanation for the extensive changes we experienced. More pictures will be provided in due course.



Back at C2, we started the evacuation. We had hauled 7 days of food and full technical gear from 3700m to 6250m, an amount of work which few teams are required to perform even on the high 8000ers. In the event, we had built a highway to nowhere, and what took over 3 weeks to contruct took a little less than 3 days to remove. With the exception of a single rappel rope over a perenially soft snow mushroom, we cleaned both the entire mountain and the treasure trove of rusting cans left at our base camp by the 1984 Yukshin Gardan Sar Expedition, the only other team ever to mount a major undertaking up the Yazghil Glacier.



Ben has already set out on his next adventure, a solo attempt on Shimshal Whitehorn. Don has to return first to Kathmandu and then to the US, and will be leaving shortly; he will also perform the expedition debriefing on his way through Islamambad. Bruce will be going to the Chinese Tien Shan in 2 weeks, but in the meantime is scheming up reconnaissance plans for another Karakoram giant next summer. Pete is also looking to fill some spare time with a little trekking action before his return. Bruce Normand