She closed her Pilates studio to chase a mountaineering dream, then tragedy struck
By Hanna Park, CNN
(CNN) — Earlier this year, Sarah Mallory Geis closed the doors of her Pilates studio in San Antonio, Texas, telling her friends where she believed her life was headed.
“Taking a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes,” she wrote on Instagram. “I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”
That leap took her to the chill, rarefied air of Pakistan’s Broad Peak. Geis was killed in an avalanche on the mountain, the world’s 12th-highest, in the Karakoram range. She was part of a 10-person expedition led by renowned Nepal-born mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja, when the avalanche struck Thursday. Geis was 39, CNN affiliate KENS reported.
Rescuers searching for the team have so far recovered three sets of remains, including Geis’, as they pressed on for the other climbers despite bad weather that hampered helicopter flights, authorities said. Purja remained among those unaccounted for.
Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said in a statement to the Associated Press that the climbers lost contact with base camp after the avalanche and had been out of communication since Thursday.
This was Geis’ first attempt at an 8,000-meter peak, of which there are just 14 in the world, according to Moving Mountains, the Pakistani company guiding the expedition.
“I’m heading out for my first big kid climbing expedition in Pakistan,” she wrote on social media before the trip. “Let’s see if we can get this body and these boots up Broad Peak, the 12th highest mountain in the world.”
Geis had served as a former board member of San Antonio Sports, a local group that brings major sporting events to the city. In a statement, the group praised her “bold spirit” and generosity. “The impact she made in our community will never be forgotten,” it added.
Before the mountains, Geis worked alongside her father, George, in the family’s real-estate business, he told KENS. She had traveled to the region before, asking her parents for time off to make the trip, he said.
“That’s what she wanted to do, was go hike,” he said. “She was a very positive person, and very smart, and could do almost anything she wanted to do.”
Speaking about the days ahead, George Geis said the family is now focused on returning his daughter to San Antonio.
“Well, it’s tough. It’s tough,” he told KENS. “Our main objective now is to get her back here.”
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CNN’s Laura Sharman, Martin Goillandeau and Sophia Saifi contributed to this report.
