Climber Was Missing for Long Time and Presumed Dead — Then a Drone Spotted Something Shocking

A climber had been missing for roughly 36 hours on one of the highest mountains in the world. The people below were running out of hope. At more than 7,000 meters above sea level, Scottish mountaineer Rick Allen had disappeared during his descent from Broad Peak in Pakistan. Searchers could not find him. There were no obvious tracks leading back toward camp. And after so many hours exposed to extreme altitude, cold and dangerous terrain, many feared the worst. Then, from far below, a cook looked toward the mountain and noticed something tiny against the snow. At first, it looked like a backpack. Then someone realized there might be a person beside it. And when a drone was sent toward the mysterious shape, the camera captured something nobody expected to see. Rick Allen was alive. This happened in July of 2018 on Broad Peak, a massive mountain in Pakistan's Karakoram range. At roughly 8,047 meters high, Broad Peak is the 12th highest mountain on Earth. It is a place where even experienced climbers can quickly find themselves in serious trouble. The air is thin. Temperatures can become brutal. Small mistakes can become life-threatening. And Rick Allen was anything but inexperienced. He had spent decades climbing some of the world's most difficult mountains and had already earned enormous respect in the mountaineering community. But during this expedition, something went badly wrong. Allen had been climbing with a small team. Weather conditions were difficult, and not everyone continued toward the summit. Allen did. He eventually reached the top of Broad Peak and began heading back down. That was when he disappeared. Somewhere during the descent, Allen suffered a serious fall. Reports later said he fell roughly 100 feet down a steep section of the mountain. He struck his head. He suffered cuts and bruising. And afterward, he ended up far away from the normal climbing route. That single detail made the situation even more dangerous. The people searching for him were looking where a climber would normally be expected to descend. Rick was somewhere else entirely. Hours passed. One climber searched the area where Allen had last been seen. There was still no sign of him. Eventually, the remaining members of the expedition had to retreat lower down the mountain. Equipment was reportedly left behind in case Allen somehow returned. But as the hours continued to pass, the situation became increasingly grim. At that altitude, survival becomes difficult even when everything is going according to plan. Allen had been injured. He was alone. And he had no stove to melt snow into drinking water. 36 hours passed. No rescue. No contact. No clear idea of where he was. Then came the moment that changed everything. The next morning, a cook at base camp happened to be looking toward Broad Peak. High above him was an enormous landscape of ice, snow, rock, and shadow. And somewhere within that landscape, he noticed a tiny dark object. It was so small that at first it appeared to be nothing more than equipment, possibly a backpack. But the location was unusual. The object was hundreds of meters away from the normal route toward Camp 3. So, people began looking more carefully. Through a telescope, they could make out what appeared to be a human figure. The problem was that the person was not moving. For a moment, it seemed they may finally have found Rick Allen. But perhaps too late. Then the figure moved. That was enough. Rick Allen might still be alive. At a nearby expedition camp was Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel. He was preparing for an ambitious attempt to climb K2 and ski back down. His brother, Bartek Bargiel, was there filming the expedition. And Bartek had brought something that would suddenly become far more important than anyone expected. A drone. The drone was originally being used to capture footage at extreme altitude. Now, it had a new job. Find Rick Allen. Bartek launched the drone and sent it high toward Broad Peak. Flying a small consumer drone at more than 7,000 meters was already unusual. The thin air makes flying more difficult. The cold affects batteries. And the landscape is enormous. Still, Bartek pushed the drone higher. Then the camera found him. Rick Allen was lying on the mountain. At first, he appeared completely still. Bartek later recalled that when they first saw Allen through the drone camera, they feared he was dead. They kept watching. Then Rick moved. He stood up. After being missing for roughly 36 hours, injured and alone at extreme altitude, Rick Allen was still alive. But the rescue was far from over. The drone footage showed something else. Rick appeared disoriented. He was moving, but he was not necessarily moving in the right direction. The terrain surrounding him included steep slopes and dangerous crevasses. One wrong turn could have ended everything. So, the drone became more than a way to confirm that Rick was alive. It became a guide. Below, people radioed climbers who were already higher on the mountain. Among them were Frederick Strang and David Roski, who were near Camp 3. When the call came in, their plans immediately changed. A missing climber had been found. He was alive. And he needed help. They gathered rope, water, and medical supplies and began moving toward Rick. Tenji Sherpa later joined the effort. But finding Rick from the ground was still incredibly difficult. From the perspective of a climber on the mountain, every ridge and snowfield can look different from what people see through a camera. So, Bartek kept flying. He sent the drone toward Rick. Then toward the rescuers. Then back again. It was effectively moving between them, helping the two sides close the distance. At one point, Rick had started walking too far uphill. Bartek repositioned the drone. Rick noticed it. And he began following its direction. That image is one the most extraordinary parts of the entire story. A 65-year-old climber, exhausted, dehydrated, and injured after more than a day alone on Broad Peak, slowly making his way across the mountain, following a drone. The drone could not carry him. It could not treat his injuries. It could not pull him out of danger. But it could tell him something that mattered enormously. Someone had found him. Someone knew he was alive. And people were coming. Meanwhile, the rescue team kept climbing toward him. Little by little, the distance between them disappeared. Then finally, after so many hours alone, Rick saw other climbers approaching. He had been found. Now they had to get him back. Rick was suffering from dehydration. He had injuries from the fall. He also had frostbite. And the area where he had been stranded was dangerous enough that a slip could have sent him into a crevasse or much farther down the mountain. The rescuers helped him across the terrain toward Camp 3. They moved carefully. Daylight was beginning to disappear. After everything Rick had already survived, nobody wanted to take unnecessary risks now. Eventually, they reached the camp. Rick was placed inside a tent. For the first time since his disappearance, he was somewhere protected. From there, the team continued helping him down the mountain. And eventually, Rick Allen returned to base camp alive. It was an outcome almost nobody expected when he first disappeared. He had fallen. He had suffered a head injury. He had spent roughly 36 hours alone at extreme altitude. He had no stove to melt snow for water. He had ended up far away from the route where people were looking for him. And still, somehow, he survived. What saved him was not one single miracle. It was a chain of small moments. A cook happened to notice something strange in the distance. Someone decided to look more carefully instead of dismissing it. A drone happened to be available nearby. Bartek Bargiel was willing to push that drone to an extreme altitude. Climbers already high on the mountain immediately changed their plans and went toward Rick. And all of those decisions came together at exactly the right time. The drone footage makes the story even more powerful. Rick is almost impossibly small against the mountain. Just a tiny figure surrounded by miles of snow and rock. It shows how easy it would have been for nobody to see him and how unlikely it was that anyone would find him in time. There was also something almost ironic about Rick's rescue. Before the accident, he apparently was not a big fan of drones in the mountains. Like many climbers, he considered them intrusive. After Broad Peak, he had a very different reason to remember one. Because when that drone appeared above him, it meant Rick was no longer completely alone. Somewhere far below, people were watching. They knew exactly where he was. And they were trying to reach him. Rick Allen continued climbing after the rescue. Three years later, in July of 2021, he returned to the Karakoram and attempted a new route on nearby K2. During that expedition, he was caught in an avalanche and died at the age of 68. That later tragedy gives the Broad Peak rescue an even deeper meaning today. Because for one remarkable moment in 2018, Rick had disappeared into one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth. People believed he was gone. Then someone noticed a tiny shape in the snow. A drone rose above the mountain. The camera moved closer. And the man everyone feared was dead. Stood up.