'No one did such a climb before'

An elite group of climbers saved a French mountaineer in a daring night-time rescue on a Pakistan peak nicknamed "killer mountain", but officials yesterday called off the search for a second missing climber.

The team of Polish climbers with support from the Pakistani military launched the attempt Saturday afternoon to rescue stranded French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol, but were unable to reach Polish national Tomek (Tomasz) Mackiewicz on Nanga Parbat.

The four rescuers were flown by the Pakistani military from the base camp of K2 -- the world's second-highest peak -- to reach the stranded climbers.

They were part of a Polish expedition seeking to become the first mountaineers to summit K2's peak during the winter, when good climbing days are rare.

The team was evacuated by helicopter after a five and a half hour descent down the mountain to Nanga Parbat's Camp One early yesterday.

The group were then airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in nearby Skardu, where Revol was set to be treated for a number of injuries.

Pakistani climber Karim Shah, who was in contact with the expedition, said the rescue effort was unmatched in the climbing world, with the team ascending 1,200 metres in complete darkness along a treacherous route without a fixed rope.

"No one did such a climb before," Shah told AFP. "Most people, it takes two or three days, and they did it in eight hours in the darkness."

Following the operation the Polish team are set to return to K2 base camp where they will continue their summit attempt.

Nanga Parbat, in northern Pakistan, is the world's ninth-highest mountain at 8,125 metres (26,660 feet). It earned the nickname "killer mountain" after more than 30 climbers died trying to climb it before the first successful summit in 1953.