Mountain veteran is brought in to help search hampered by weather

A SEARCH for a Scottish climber missing on the world’s ninth highest mountain is poised to resume after being hampered by bad weather.

Tom Ballard, from Fort William, was climbing Nanga Parbat in Pakistan with Italian Daniele Nardi when they lost contact a week ago.

Tom’s mum Alison Hargreaves died on nearby peak K2 when she was 33, just months after becoming the first woman to conquer Everest unaided in 1995.

Tensions beetween India and Pakistan over Kashmir and bad weather hit plans to search the 26,660ft peak, nicknamed the Killer Mountain but now a search party is being flown in.

Pakistani army helicopters are bringing in Basque climber Alex Txikon BY LAURA PATERSON and his team from K2, the Italian ambassador to Pakistan tweeted.

Stefano Pontecorvo hailed the move as a “big step forward” and said the weather has cleared and should allow the search to start this morning, weather permitting.

Txikon plans to fly high-altitude drones over the area where the two climbers went missing.

Earlier, Pontecorvo said both the missing men are “tough guys”, adding: “We hope for a miracle … and just try our best to find them.”

Initial search plans on Thursday were prevented when Pakistan closed its air space after it shot down two Indian military planes.

Snow, clouds and low visibility forced proposed searches of Pontecorvo on Friday and Saturday to be called off.