Rescuers searching for the British mountaineer Tom Ballard and his Italian climbing partner Daniele Nardi, who are missing on Nanga Parbat, are seeking permission from Pakistani officials to use powerful drones to search the 8,000-metre Himalayan peak.
According to Nardi’s Facebook page, which has been updated by supporters during the search, the rescue team is planning to ferry the Basque mountaineer Alex Txikon from the world’s second highest mountain, K2, which is nearby, to allow him to use three high-altitude drones in the search.
The plan to use drones in addition to Pakistani military helicopters, which have been deployed already, comes as concern mounts about the risk of avalanches on the mountain after days of high winds, snowfall and temperatures as low as -40C.
A statement on Nardi’s official Facebook page, posted in Italian, said the avalanche risk meant “it is better to proceed to research with sophisticated electronic flight systems”.
Stefano Pontecorvo, the Italian ambassador to Pakistan, tweeted that the drone search had not been possible so far “for a number of reasons including poor weather”.
Climbers who know Ballard have expressed hope that the two will be found, citing their extensive experience, a message echoed by his sister Kate on Facebook on Thursday. “Please all believe and trust that they will be OK,” she wrote.
Plans for an initial search operation were prevented on Thursday when Pakistan closed its airspace after it shot down two Indian military planes, but two Pakistani army helicopters were eventually deployed. The alarm was raised earlier this week after Ballard and Nardi had failed to make contact since Sunday.
Txikon, who is being brought in with two fellow team members including a doctor, was part of a group that made the first winter ascent of Nanga Parbat in 2016 with the Pakistani climber Ali Sadpari, who arrived at base camp on Thursday.
Ballard is one of the world’s strongest winter climbers and was the first person to climb all six of the major Alpine north faces solo in a single winter.
He is the son of Alison Hargreaves, the British climber who in 1995 became the first woman to reach the summit of Everest without a support team or supplemental oxygen. She died a few months later attempting an ascent of K2.
Ballard’s father, Jim, told the the Times on Friday that the search for his son on Nanga Parbat had brought back memories of his wife’s death not least the difficulty of finding a helicopter for the search during a border clash between India and Pakistan that had grounded many flights.
“This takes me back to those days. When the news broke there was no helicopter and we couldn’t get one to the base camp at K2. But the same day the Pakistani military became interested and said they could send one and did.”
However he added that finding his son on the vast mountain would be “like finding a green beer mat on the pitch at Twickenham”.
A Pakistani military helicopter flight failed on Thursday to find the missing pair, who were climbing the mountain by the Mummery Rib, named after the Briton Albert Mummery who disappeared on the mountain in 1895.
The flight did spot an orange tent, largely buried in snow, at a site lower than the men’s last reported position and apparently not on their planned route.
The planned deployment of the drones came as a group of Russian climbers on K2, who had initially said they would help in the search, apparently withdrew the offer because of the high avalanche risk.
The pair’s last known position was close to 6,300 metres, between camps four and five, according to Nardi’s wife, who received a satellite phone call from him on 22 February.
An outstanding and ambitious mountaineer, Ballard had early on expressed an interest in following in his mother’s footsteps on the world’s highest mountains, although he was persuaded to abandon early plans to attempt K2 solo in winter.
Regarded by his peers as one of the world’s best Alpinists, his previous Himalayan experience was limited to one other expedition. The two climbers arrived at the mountain in late December, according to Ballard’s sponsor Montane, a climbing clothing manufacturer.
“They will be hoping to climb the infamous Mummery Spur – named after Albert F Mummery,” the company wrote. He died on the mountain while scouting a path.
“His intended line remains unclimbed to this day.”
