Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Drones implemented in search for missing Fort William man

Post Thumbnail

Drones were yesterday brought in after a search for missing Fort William climber Tom Ballard was stood down due to an avalanche risk.

Tom Ballard, whose family lived in Lochaber until his teens, was climbing Nanga Parbat earlier this week when he was reported missing.

The 30-year-old had been on an expedition with Italian Daniele Nardi on the peak known as Killer Mountain, before the two lost contact during their descent.

He is said to have been following in the footsteps of his record-breaking mother, Alison Hargreaves, by attempting some of the toughest mountains in the world.

Yesterday, attempts were made to bring in three drones, operated by Spaniard Alex Txikon, amid the avalanche risk to help search for the missing man.

However, heavy snow lead to a delay in their deployment.

Flight authorisation had proven to be difficult amid ongoing turbulence between Pakistan and India, after two Indian military jets were shot down, with a statement issued on Mr Nardi’s Facebook page, operated by his support team, claiming the delay was also due to a row over payment for an army helicopter.

The statement, translated from Italian, said: “This morning the helicopter, after having permission to fly, could not take off for weather and administrative issues.

“Askari, the company that runs the flights had to wait despite early morning there was military authorization.

“In Agreement with the information provided the departure of the helicopters has been stopped by the weather that has worsened and Alex Txikon’s recovery operation from the base camp of k2 will have to be carried out tomorrow morning.”

Italian ambassador in Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo added: “For a number of reasons including poor weather between NangaParbat and K2 Base Camp, the continuation of the rescue operation of Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard has not been possible today. Hopefully tomorrow.”

Daniele Nardi e Tom Ballard sono sul Nanga Parbat. Da domenica pomeriggio non danno notizie né con il telefono…

Posted by Daniele Nardi on Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Sandy Allan, a family friend of Mr Ballard’s from Newtonmore, has climbed Nanga Parbat twice and spoke of the conditions facing the pair.

He told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland: “I’m a little bit worried but he’s a really competent mountaineer.

“It’s got a reputation for being a very dangerous mountain but if you’re a mountaineer it’s a super place to go.

“It’s a lot colder and that makes it incredibly uncomfortable but if you’re a climber like Tom was it’s one of the big challenges for people to do so I can understand why he’d want to go there.”

Mr Ballard moved to Scotland in 1995, the same year his mother Alison Hargreaves, died on K2, the second tallest peak in the world, when she was 33. Her body has never been recovered.