Bulgarian Boyan Petrov (45) is reported missing on the only 8000-meter peak fully within Tibet, Shishapangma. The working assumption is that he left for the summit, alone, and never made it.
He left base camp with other climbers on 29 April but choose to stay when others left as the weather detoriated. He was spotted near Camp 3 by teammates at base camp using a telescope according to Facebook posts from his home team, Khalifa Himalayan Expedition, in Bulgaria. At this point he was climbing solo, no radio and without supplemental oxygen – his normal style for 8000ers.
On May 5, a search team consisting of a Ukrainian climber and three Sherpas went to Camp 3 at 24,278 feet and found his tent with the flaps open and his sleeping bag filled with snow suggesting he had not been in the tent for days. Much of the information is being released by Hungarian mountaineer Dávid Klein, who is also on Shishapagma. There are about ten climbers on the 26,335 feet this Spring.
Boyan’s wife, Radoslava Nenova, posted on Facebook that he has been missing for days and certainly made an attempt to get to the top because his tent was at Camp 3. She believes he had reached another camp where there were food and fuel. “He has everything he needs to survive,” she told Bulgarian National Television. The Chinese Mountaineering Association has officially declared him missing. A search team began a search on Monday, May 7.
I met Boyan on K2 in 2014 as I was descending from the summit and he was ascending K2 near the Black Pyramid. We chatted for a moment about the conditions and he told me he had just summited Broad Peak. I looked at this young man with total admiration. He was strong and confident, and of course, not using supplemental oxygen. We had kept in touch over the years.
Boyan is considered the most successful Bulgarian high-altitude alpinist. His mountaineering history is quite impressive with summits of ten of the fourteen 8000 meters mountains, all without supplemental oxygen. He had planned on going to Everest immediately after Shishapangma and then Cho Oyu in the autumn. He is a two times cancer survivor and a diabetic. Petrov work life is well documented as a zoologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. He is also a specialist in wildlife in caves, according to his website.
This site is the best to follow any breaking news. I wish the best for him.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
