Body of Mountaineer Archil Badriashvili Found on Shkhelda Peak

"Employees of the Emergency Situations Management Service found the body of a mountaineer who had gone missing on the Shkhelda peak in Svaneti, at an altitude of approximately 3800 meters, on a rocky slope.

As part of the search and rescue operation, firefighters and rescuers from the main division of the Emergency Management Service, with the involvement of special equipment and a helicopter from the Border Police, recovered the mountaineer’s body. Relevant procedures are currently being carried out," reads the statement released today, August 12, by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Archil Badriashvili was on an expedition on Shkhelda with three other climbers. According to their account, on August 10, while descending from the peak, the weather worsened, and a rockfall occurred near Archil, causing him to fall off the ridge.

His companions notified the Emergency Management Service that they needed urgent help. Employees of the Mestia Rescue Service and local mountaineers set out for Shkhelda after receiving the notification, around 5-6 PM. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs' helicopter was involved in the rescue operation only the following morning, on August 11. The media relations representative of the Emergency Situations Management Service told Mtis Ambebi that on the evening of August 10, the weather in Svaneti was bad, with rain and hail, making it impossible to fly. However, local residents dispute this, stating that in the evening, before nightfall, there was no more rain, thunder, or fog for about three hours.

The three surviving members of the expedition were safely brought to Mestia on the morning of August 11. The helicopter remained grounded for almost half a day and only made a second flight to the valley after a vehicle loaded with aviation fuel reached Svaneti and the pilots refuelled. The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not explain why the helicopter that arrived in Svaneti was grounded for several hours.

Archil Badriashvili had received many significant awards in mountaineering. In 2022, he, along with Bakar Gelashvili and Giorgi Tepnadze, was awarded the Golden Ice Axe Prize. The Georgian mountaineers earned this award by conquering the 7303-meter-high peak, which had never been climbed before and is considered one of the most challenging routes. The peak of Saraghrar Northwest is located in western Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Attempts were made to climb it in the 1970s and 1980s but without success. In 2019, Archil Badriashvili, together with Giorgi Tepnadze, climbed Nanga Parbat, a peak in the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan, standing at 8,126 meters and known for its technically difficult and snowy slopes."