Pavle Milosevic - Paja (Paya), a Yugoslav climber who recently died on Cho Oyu, was born 50 years ago on the slopes of Mount Komovi in Montenegro. He spent his childhood surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the Balkans, creating his love for the mountains. An electrical engineer by profession, he worked for the past dozen years for Yugoslav Airlines in Belgrade.
From an early age, Pavle started hiking and later, as a climber, participated in numerous expeditions, including two to the Andes (Aconcagua) and one to the Himalaya (Annapurna IV). He was one of the better known climbers in Serbia/Montenegro, not only for his climbing merits, but also for his exceptional human qualities - extreme honesty, goodness, compassion and helpfulness. As a friend of his put it: "He helped the known and the unknown."
Pavle was fond of extreme sports, including paragliding and ultra-marathons, the last of which he ran in Fruska Gora National Park (101.2 km, approx. 63 miles) in May 2000. He started thinking of Cho Oyu in early 1999, but for various reasons postponed it until the fall of 2000. In the spring of this year he got in touch with the Polish team and last April went to Poland for the preliminary agreements.
All his human and climbing efforts ended on October 11, 2000, at 07:38 am. He left behind a 9-year-old daughter, Iva, and a lot of friends full with the fondest memories of him.
