Last Friday in a tragic fall on GII (8035 m) in Pakistan, Leila Esfandyari, a well-known Iranian caver and alpinist, lost her life.

She was the first female caver who reached the end of Ghar Parau and had lots of cave exploration experience.

As an alpinist she had climbed many mountains in Iran. She was also the leader of first successful  Iranian ascent on Nangaparbat (8126m) and climbed K2 but returned from camp 3 because of bad weather conditions that failed all other climbers efforts too.

She had an influential role in the development of modern caving techniques in Iran. As Fadi Nader,UIS general secretary, says: “… Leila was at the heart of whatever we initiated in Iran for speleology. She incarnated all our efforts and thoughts...”

During this week of mourning for Leila we received several condolence messages from famous cavers and Speleologists from all over the world namely Fadi Nader, George Veni, Simon Brooks, Neven Bocic, Jean Pierre Bartoleyns, Micheal Lummans,…

As a tribute to Leila I could say: She was single-minded and strong-willed who wouldn’t stop her efforts to reach what she desired. We will miss her.

http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=20259

http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=20261

http://www.iransplo.com/newsDetail.aspx?mode=1&id=135

http://www.paesieimmagini.it/blog/blog_G1_2011/g1blog_en.htm