Tragedy Marks the End of an Elite Climbing Partnership

One year ago, on August 31, Sergey Nilov and Dmitry Golovchenko were exhausted but satisfied as they melted snow outside of their small two-person tent. The Russians were preparing a hot drink before catching some rest on a precarious ledge at 7,684 meters, high up on Gasherbrum IV’s (7,925m) gigantic Southeast Ridge. They were nearly at the end of the technical difficulties, just one steep headwall separated them from the summit ridge.

The frequent climbing partners and best friends clambered inside, but immediately felt the tent slipping off its snowy platform. Nilov rushed outside to secure it to their anchor, while Golovchenko, still inside, tried to collect their gear. Golovchenko screamed: “Sergya, I’m falling!” and Nilov watched with horror as the tent and his dear friend fell off the ledge and into the airy black void.

Nilov barely survived the descent himself—a nightmare of both technical alpine terrain and overwhelming grief—but he made it down to the glacier where he found Golovchenko, wrapped him in their tent, and moved his body near a crevasse at 6,950 meters. Then he stumbled back to base camp.

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Ten months later, an announcement on the Russian climbing website Mountain.ru called for climbers to join a team—organized by the Russian Federation of Alpinism, and led by Sergey Nilov—to recover the body of Dmitry Golovchenko and return him to his family. Nilov and Golovchenko had been friends for over 20 years, spending long stretches of time both in the mountains together, on cutting-edge expeditions, but also back home in Russia, and on family holidays. Nilov needed to recover his friend’s body.

In the early days of August, Nilov, Alexey Bautin, Mikhail and Sergey Mironov (no relation), and Evgeny Yablokov set off for Gasherbrum IV with this sole goal. They arrived at the base of the mountain on August 11, beneath a hazardous icefall between Gasherbrums III and IV. A separate team had previously inspected the area and told them they had seen the icefall where Golovchenko lay, noting that it had become much more broken and complex since August 2023. “[The icefall] does not look safe,” they advised. “The upper front of the glacier has collapsed. The body wrapped in a tent is nowhere to be seen.” But part of the icefall had been navigated safely, by Aleš Česen and Tom Livingstone, who had just completed the first ascent of the West Ridge of Gasherbrum III,  and they left a tent at 6,000 meters with gas canisters for the Russians to use during their recovery mission.

But on August 17, while moving through the icefall, a serac broke loose and hit Nilov, Mikhail, and Sergey Mironov. Nilov disappeared into the icy wreckage, while the other two climbers were badly injured and initially unable to move. In the meantime, Alexey Bautin and Evgeny Yablokov had fallen ill at base camp, and after the accident were unable to assist their comrades on the mountain.

The Russian Federation and Pakistani military deemed the icefall too dangerous to perform a helicopter rescue, so they deposited a rescue party of Pakistani climbers at base camp. The pilots scanned the icefall from above, spotting the moving but injured Mihail and Sergey Mironov, as well as the prone figure of Nilov.

The following day, Mikhail and Sergey Mironov managed to descend a small section of the icefall and miraculously found Nilov’s bag with painkillers, food, and gas, which enabled them to survive another night. The rescuers finally reached the duo on the 20th and helped them descend to advanced base camp at 6,100 meters. Helicopters are currently waiting on clearer weather to take them to a hospital in Skardu.

On a final flight the pilots noted that Nilov’s body was no longer visible in the active icefall. They have suspended their search for the time being, citing little chance of his survival.

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There is a sense of a Greek tragedy with this news, a twist of fate which led to the bitter end of one of alpinism’s great pairings—on a beautiful, magnetic mountain like Gasherbrum IV. My only thoughts now are for the five children of Sergei and his wife Anastasia, who will have to bear the loss of their father and husband—as happened tragically to Sasha, Dmitry’s widow, and their two daughters twelve months ago.

I will never forget these two brave, committed comrades, who enlightened our community with their incredible ascents—including, but not limited to, No Fear (VII 5.10d A3; 1,120m) on Pakistan’s Nameless Tower (6,251m); Think Twice (ED 5.10 A2 M6; 3,400m) on Pakistan’s Muztagh Tower (7,276m); Ninth Wave (ED 5.11 WI5 M6 A2; 1,885m) on Sedoy Strazh’s (5,841m) East Buttress in China; and Moveable Feast (ED2 M7 WI 5 A3; 1,400m) on Thalay Sagar (6,904m), India—but who also never let their elite status change the fabric of themselves, humble workers and humans with little sponsorship support.

This tragic story reminds us of the brutal reality of the mountains, which remains impassive of the small destinies of human lives.

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