Five climbers' bodies found on Yalung Ri in Nepal nine months after avalanche
Five bodies have been found near the base camp of Yalung Ri in Nepal, nine months after an avalanche buried a group of fifteen climbers in November 2025. Recovery is stalled by bad weather.
Discovery after nine months
Five bodies have been discovered near the base camp of Yalung Ri, a 5,630-metre peak in Nepal's Rolwaling region close to the Tibetan border, nine months after an avalanche swept through a group of fifteen climbers in November 2025. Locals and rescue workers found the remains on Thursday, 6 August, at approximately 4,900 metres elevation, after summer snowmelt exposed bodies that had been buried under thick snow and ice since the accident. Biswash Karki, mayor of Gaurishankar municipality, announced the discovery to AFP on Saturday, 8 August. The bodies have not yet been recovered or formally identified.
The November 2025 avalanche
The group of fifteen climbers had been attempting to summit Yalung Ri when an avalanche struck the lower slopes and buried their base camp, situated at nearly 5,000 metres. The team had set out from the village of Na toward the base camp after a brief weather improvement, following days of snowfall. Police told the Kathmandu Post that the snowpack remained unstable. The accident coincided with a broader weather system; media at the time also reported a second avalanche at Panbari Hill.
In the immediate aftermath, two Nepali guides' bodies were recovered and eight people from the group were rescued. Five climbers remained missing. Army, police, and local rescue teams searched repeatedly over the following months, but the bodies remained buried under deep snow.
- Avalanche strikes group of 15 climbers on Yalung Ri; 2 Nepali guides recovered dead, 8 rescued, 5 missing
- Locals and rescue workers discover five bodies near base camp at approximately 4,900 metres
- Helicopter carrying police team turns back due to deteriorating weather, cannot reach site
- Mayor Biswash Karki announces the discovery to AFP; recovery team remains on standby
Conflicting accounts of the victims' nationalities
The articles give differing accounts of who the five missing climbers were. Spiegel Online, citing the original missing-persons report, lists a German, two Italians, one French climber, and one Canadian. Articles from tagesschau.de, Berliner Zeitung, RP Online, and Der Tagesspiegel, citing AFP and mayor Karki, identify the dead as a German, an Italian, an Italo-Canadian, and two Nepalis. The identities of the missing had been confirmed by Nepal's tourism ministry and expedition agencies after the November accident, but police said final identification of the recovered bodies will take place only after they are brought down from the mountain.
Recovery stalled by weather
A helicopter carrying a police team was dispatched on Friday, 7 August, but had to turn back because of rapidly deteriorating weather without reaching the site. Manoj Kumar Lama, deputy police chief of Dolakha district, told the Kathmandu Post that the bodies could not be retrieved due to poor conditions.
The bodies could not be brought back because of the bad weather conditions. They will be recovered as soon as the weather improves.
A recovery team remains on standby. Karki said the bodies will be flown out once conditions allow.
Mountaineering deaths in Nepal
Nepal is home to eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres, including the 8,849-metre Mount Everest. According to the Himalayan Database expedition archive, more than 1,000 people have died on Nepal's summits since 1950, with avalanches causing nearly a third of those fatalities. The peaks draw hundreds of climbers and trekkers each year.
