French Ski Mountaineer, Jean-Noel Urban, Lost on 8000m Mountain

MountEverest.net is reporting that French ski mountaineer Jean-Noel Urban has been lost on the 8068m Gasherbum I after having fallen into a deep crevasse. This tragic loss has also been confirmed on Urban's web site.

Reports are that, on June 18th, Urban was descending from camp 2 of his planned route up Gasherbum 1 when he fell through a thin snow crust. A futile search was attempted the next day, and the depth of the crevasse and subsequent heavy snow led to abandoning any further recovery attempts.

48 years old at the time of his death, Urban, a long time instructor of the prestigious Ecoles du Ski Français du Serre Chevalier 1400, had been living in La Salle Les Alpes, France and was a ski mountaineer and extreme ski specialist for more than 20 years. In 1995, Urban made the first entire ski descent of the northern face of Mount McKinley, in Alaska and over the years skied many slopes at gradients of 50 and 60 degrees in various mountain ranges around the world.

Urban and his regular climbing partner Nicolas Brun were on Gasherbum 1 attempting an ascent/ski descent of the Japanese couloir on the NW side, and had planned to follow with an ascent and ski descent of Nanga Parbat.

Should anyone wish to send condolence to Jean-Noël's family and friends, or share a remembrance visit the web site.

_{Photo of Mt Mckinley © Getty Images}