Renowned Scottish Climber Rick Allen Dies in Avalanche While Raising Money for Charity

A renowned climber died in an avalanche while trying to scale K2, the world’s second-highest mountain peak located in Pakistan.

Rick Allen, who was from Scotland, died in an avalanche three days ago while trying to get to the summit on a part of the mountain's southeast face that had not been travelled before, Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told CBS News.

Two climbing partners that had been on the journey with Allen survived the avalanche and were later rescued, Haidri said. The climb was part of an initiative to raise funds for U.K.-based charity Partners Relief & Development. The charity, where Allen was a board member, also confirmed his death on Facebook.

"Rick died doing what he loved the most and lived his life with the courage of his convictions,” the charity said in a statement. “Rick was committed to serving the worlds poorest and most vulnerable communities, and worked as a key member of the leadership of Partners Relief & Development UK for several years, campaigning for free, full lives for children affected by conflict and oppression.”

Allen had experienced being caught in an avalanche in 2018 while scaling Broad Peak along the Pakistan-China border. He was initially thought to have died but was rescued after being spotted by a drone.

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