Earlier this year Sarah Mallory Geis shut the doors of her Pilates studio in San Antonio, Texas, and told friends she was stepping into the unknown. On Instagram, she wrote that she was taking “a giant leap of faith” and suspected there would be “lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.” That leap carried her to Pakistan’s Broad Peak, the world’s twelfth-highest mountain. On 30 July 2026 she was killed in an avalanche along with nine other climbers. When the news broke about the terrible accident on Broad Peak, many were wondering if she was related to George Mallory, who incidentally died on Mount Everest over 100 years ago, in 1924, but to clarify, there is no official evidence that connects them apart from their love for mountains.
A First 8,000-Metre Attempt
Geis, 39, was making her first attempt on a peak above 8,000 metres. The expedition was organised by the Pakistani company Moving Mountains. She was climbing with Sohail Sakhi, a Pakistani guide, geographer and high-altitude photographer for whom Broad Peak was expected to be the last 8,000-metre summit in his home country. The ten-person team was led by the well-known Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal “Nims” Purja. It also included five other Nepali climbers, an Omani climber, a Chinese climber identified as Wang Zhong, and one additional foreign climber.
Moving Mountains had posted that the group was on its way to Askole and wished them a safe journey. Geis herself wrote before departure: “I’m heading out for my first big kid climbing expedition in Pakistan. Let’s see if we can get this body and these boots up Broad Peak.”
The Avalanche
On the morning of 30 July, the team was moving between Camp II and Camp III on Broad Peak when a large avalanche struck. Contact with base camp was lost. Rescuers later confirmed that all ten climbers had died. Geis’s remains were among the first three recovered despite difficult weather that limited helicopter flights. The Alpine Club of Pakistan reported that the climbers had been out of communication since the slide.
Life Before the Mountains
Before she turned to high-altitude climbing, Geis worked with her father, George, in the family’s real-estate business in San Antonio. She had served on the board of San Antonio Sports, a local organisation that brings major events to the city. The group later remembered her “bold spirit” and the lasting impact she made in the community.
She was not new to the outdoors. She had already travelled and climbed in Nepal and had begun ice climbing. At a women’s ice-climbing weekend in Colorado in January, she met Alaskan climber Kimberly Hardman. The two quickly connected and talked about future trips around the world. Hardman later said Geis was a natural athlete who respected the mountains and understood the risks. “She was wanting to learn and grow,” Hardman recalled. “That’s what brought her to her happy place.”
Family Response
Geis’s family described her as “a bright light who was loved deeply by her family and friends” and said she “will be profoundly missed.” They expressed gratitude for the support they had received and asked for privacy while they processed the loss. Her father told local reporters that the family’s immediate goal was to bring her home to San Antonio. “It’s tough. It’s tough,” he said. “Our main objective now is to get her back here.”Mallory Geis left behind a closed studio, a community that remembered her energy, and a final Instagram post that captured the spirit of the journey she had chosen. The mountains she set out to explore claimed her on her first attempt at one of the world’s highest summits.
Broad Peak Avalanche: Nirmal Purja Nims among 10 dead after Pakistan accident
